compare_providers
Stripe vs Adyen: the payment API benchmark, scored
Stripe leads on the Kin Score (81.1 to 71.1) and agent readiness. Adyen ships nearly twice as many APIs and leads on governance.
Stripe
Two exemplars, and the closest artifact match on this page. Of the 15 artifact types between them, Stripe and Adyen share 14. The only difference is OAuth scopes, which Stripe publishes and Adyen does not.
Stripe wins overall at 81.1 against 71.1, and the gap is in operational transparency, where Stripe scores 100 against Adyen’s 55.3. Status, changelog and versioning are all public and machine-readable. Stripe also leads on developer ergonomics (94.6) and agent readiness (58.5 against 43.7), though both carry the top agent band, agent-native.
Adyen leads on what an enterprise buyer checks first: contract governance (31.8 against 22.0) and discoverability (63.3 against 56.7), across 138 APIs against Stripe’s 71. On cost, Stripe publishes a $10/month entry point and an 0.2% add-on rate. Adyen quotes Interchange++ at $0.13 + 0.60%. Both are graded A, read straight from each pricing page.
Facet by facet
The six Kin Score facets, 0 to 100. The facet leader is the one the tool names in facet_leaders. Each facet links to how it is measured.
| Facet | Stripe | Adyen | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discoverability | 56.7 | 63.3 | Adyen |
| Contract Quality | 72.1 | 68.7 | Stripe |
| Contract Governance | 22 | 31.8 | Adyen |
| Operational Transparency | 100 | 55.3 | Stripe |
| Developer Ergonomics | 94.6 | 82.1 | Stripe |
| Access Clarity | 92.1 | 92.1 | Stripe |
| Kin Score | 81.1 | 71.1 | Stripe |
| Agent readiness | 58.5 agent-native | 43.7 agent-native | Stripe |
Artifact coverage
Every artifact type either provider publishes, from the tool's artifact_matrix. Differences are listed first.
| Artifact | Stripe | Adyen |
|---|---|---|
| Scopes | ✓ | — |
| APIsJSON | ✓ | ✓ |
| AgenticAccess | ✓ | ✓ |
| Arazzo | ✓ | ✓ |
| AsyncAPI | ✓ | ✓ |
| Documentation | ✓ | ✓ |
| FinOps | ✓ | ✓ |
| JSONSchema | ✓ | ✓ |
| MCP | ✓ | ✓ |
| OpenAPI | ✓ | ✓ |
| Overlay | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plans | ✓ | ✓ |
| RateLimits | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rules | ✓ | ✓ |
| Security | ✓ | ✓ |
What it costs to get in
Each provider's economics as the tool returns them. Grade A is quoted on the provider's own pricing page, B is arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior. Entry cost is the cheapest published paid tier — a floor on getting in, not the price of the API alone. Grades: A quoted on the provider's page, B arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior.
| Stripe | Adyen | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | business-product | business-product |
| Pricing basis | ad-valorem | ad-valorem |
| Delivery | managed | managed |
| Entry (per month) | $10.00 per month grade A · Custom domain | not published |
| Marginal cost | $0.50 per transaction, where you’re registered to collect taxes grade A | — |
| Take rate | 0.2% per successful online card transaction for accounts with custom payments pricing grade A | $0.13 + Interchange+ + 0.60% grade A |
| Source | pricing page read 2026-09-20 | pricing page read 2026-09-20 |
Cheapest published way in: Stripe. Priced 1 of 2.
The full compare_providers response
{"providers":[{"slug":"stripe","name":"Stripe","band":"exemplar","composite":81.1,"trend":"flat","delta":0,"api_count":71,"api_count_basis":"split","artifact_types":["MCP","Security","Rules","Plans","RateLimits","FinOps","Scopes","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","Overlay","OpenAPI","Documentation","APIReference","AsyncAPI","JSONSchema","APIsJSON"],"industries":["artificial-intelligence","financial-services","financial-technology","payments","technology"],"regions":[],"facets":{"discoverability":56.7,"contract_quality":72.1,"contract_governance":22,"operational_transparency":100,"developer_ergonomics":94.6,"access_clarity":92.1},"facet_gap":{"discoverability":6.6,"contract_quality":0,"contract_governance":9.8,"operational_transparency":0,"developer_ergonomics":0,"access_clarity":0},"agent_readiness":{"score":58.5,"band":"agent-native"},"economics":{"audience":"business-product","pricing_basis":"ad-valorem","delivery":"managed","entry_usd_month":{"usd":10,"grade":"A","plan":"Custom domain","from":"$10.00 per month","unit":null,"formula":null},"marginal_usd":{"usd":0.5,"grade":"A","plan":"Tax Basic (API)","from":"$0.50 per transaction, where you’re registered to collect taxes","unit":"transaction","formula":"quoted price / quoted unit count"},"take_rate":{"percent":0.2,"fixed_usd":0,"cap_usd":null,"grade":"A","plan":"Authorization Boost (custom pricing accounts)","from":"0.2% per successful online card transaction for accounts with custom payments pricing"},"fetched":"2026-09-20","source":"https://stripe.com/pricing"}},{"slug":"adyen","name":"Adyen","band":"exemplar","composite":71.1,"trend":"flat","delta":0,"api_count":138,"api_count_basis":"split","artifact_types":["MCP","Security","Rules","Plans","RateLimits","FinOps","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","Overlay","OpenAPI","Documentation","AsyncAPI","JSONSchema","APIsJSON"],"industries":["artificial-intelligence","financial-services","financial-technology","payments"],"regions":[],"facets":{"discoverability":63.3,"contract_quality":68.7,"contract_governance":31.8,"operational_transparency":55.3,"developer_ergonomics":82.1,"access_clarity":92.1},"facet_gap":{"discoverability":0,"contract_quality":3.4,"contract_governance":0,"operational_transparency":44.7,"developer_ergonomics":12.5,"access_clarity":0},"agent_readiness":{"score":43.7,"band":"agent-native"},"economics":{"audience":"business-product","pricing_basis":"ad-valorem","delivery":"managed","entry_usd_month":null,"marginal_usd":null,"take_rate":{"percent":0.6,"fixed_usd":0,"cap_usd":null,"grade":"A","plan":"Cards (Interchange++)","from":"$0.13 + Interchange+ + 0.60%"},"fetched":"2026-09-20","source":"https://www.adyen.com/pricing"}}],"artifact_union":["APIsJSON","AgenticAccess","Arazzo","AsyncAPI","Documentation","FinOps","JSONSchema","MCP","OpenAPI","Overlay","Plans","RateLimits","Rules","Scopes","Security"],"artifact_matrix":{"APIsJSON":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"AgenticAccess":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Arazzo":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"AsyncAPI":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Documentation":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"FinOps":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"JSONSchema":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"MCP":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"OpenAPI":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Overlay":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Plans":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"RateLimits":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Rules":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true},"Scopes":{"stripe":true,"adyen":false},"Security":{"stripe":true,"adyen":true}},"facet_leaders":{"discoverability":{"provider":"adyen","score":63.3},"contract_quality":{"provider":"stripe","score":72.1},"contract_governance":{"provider":"adyen","score":31.8},"operational_transparency":{"provider":"stripe","score":100},"developer_ergonomics":{"provider":"stripe","score":94.6},"access_clarity":{"provider":"stripe","score":92.1}},"best_overall":"stripe","cheapest_entry":"stripe","economics_basis":{"stamp_generated":"2026-10-17","priced":1,"of":2,"note":"Entry cost is the cheapest published paid tier — a floor on getting in, not the price of the API alone. Grades: A quoted on the provider's page, B arithmetic on quotes, C a stated prior."},"unknown":[]}
Result read 2026-10-27. Scores move as providers publish; run it yourself for today's numbers.
Run this comparison yourself
Everything above came from one call to compare_providers. Swap in any two of the catalog's providers (three or more works too) and you get the same answer for your own shortlist. It is an Understanding tool, included in the Understanding and Influence plans, or pay per call.
https://apis.io/mcp:
{"name": "compare_providers", "arguments": {"providers": ["stripe","adyen"]}}
Over the REST API:
curl "https://apis.io/api/v1/compare?providers=stripe,adyen" \
-H "X-API-Key: $APIS_IO_KEY"
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