> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apostra.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Apostra compared with platform MCPs and direct seller APIs

> When to use Apostra's cross-seller V3 MCP, when a platform's own MCP fits, and when to call a seller's API directly. A factual comparison with the limits of each.

Use a platform's own MCP when your work lives on that one platform, and use a
seller's API directly when you want full control of one integration. Use
Apostra when one agent or application has to work across several sellers and
needs a shared record of what it asked for, bought and received, with approvals
in between. These are different jobs. This
page sets out what each option covers so you can choose. It was checked against
each vendor's own documentation and announcements on 13 November 2026.

## The comparison

| | Apostra V3 MCP and API | A platform's own MCP | A seller's API or AdCP sales agent, called directly |
| - | - | - | - |
| Reach | Sellers connected through Apostra: Apostra storefronts, AdCP sales agents and the ad platforms on the compatibility pages | One platform | One seller per integration |
| What you get | The products and operations each connected platform offers through Apostra. The [compatibility pages](https://docs.apostra.com/v2/guides/ad-platform-compatibility/index.md) list what is available, partial or not offered | That platform's own operations. Meta's server groups its tools into reporting, ad creation and management, catalogs, signals and datasets, troubleshooting, A/B tests and conversion lift studies, and activity logs | Whatever that seller's API offers |
| Buying across sellers | Briefs to sellers that answer them, with proposals to compare. Platform sellers are browsed as wholesale products | Not offered by a single-platform server | You build and run it |
| Records | Saved advertiser, campaign, creative and media-buy records with revisions and idempotency keys, shared across sellers | The platform's own records | Yours to design |
| Approvals | Two-step launch bound to a campaign revision, read-only advertiser grants, administrator approval of billing changes | The platform's own permissions. Google's open-source server asks for a dry run and a checksum before it applies a write | Yours to build |
| Where it runs | Hosted at `https://api.apostra.com/mcp/v3`, with a V3 HTTP API and SDKs | Meta hosts its server at `https://mcp.facebook.com/ads`. Amazon's is in open beta for partners with active API credentials. Google's runs locally or on infrastructure you run | Wherever your code runs |
| Credentials | OAuth for MCP clients, API keys or M2M applications for the HTTP API | The platform's | One per seller |
| Reporting | Delivery across sellers with a finality label on every figure. Buyer reporting is day-grain | The platform's own reporting. Meta lists reporting among its tool groups, and Google's server runs GAQL queries | The seller's |

## Choose by job

* **One platform, its full feature set.** Use that platform's own MCP or API.
  Apostra's connection covers the products on each compatibility page, with the
  gaps listed there, and a platform may offer its own features before Apostra does.
* **One seller, tight control.** Call its API, or its AdCP sales agent, directly.
  AdCP is open, and you do not need Apostra to speak it. See
  [Building on Apostra or on AdCP directly](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/apostra-vs-adcp.md).
* **Several sellers, one agent.** Apostra. You skip a separate buying adapter per
  seller, and the agent reads one set of tools and one set of records.
* **Both.** An agent can use Apostra for cross-seller discovery and buying and a
  platform's own MCP for a feature Apostra does not expose.

## What Apostra does not do

* It does not replace a platform's own interface for every native feature. Read
  the compatibility page for each platform before you commit.
* It does not host your agent. You own scheduling, retries and durable workflow
  state.
* Platform sellers sell wholesale only, so a brief does not return proposals
  from them.
* It does not generate creative. It saves and attaches a finished one.
* It cannot buy from a seller that is not connected through Apostra.

The complete list is in [Capability limits](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/limitations.md).

## When not to use Apostra

* Your agent works on one platform and the platform's MCP covers the operations
  you need.
* You need a platform-native feature Apostra's connection lists as not offered.
* You want no intermediary between your code and one seller.

## Next step

To try Apostra next to a platform MCP, install the developer plugin and have your
agent call `get_status`:

```text theme={null}
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/apostra-public/apostra.git
/plugin install apostra-developer@apostra
```

For Codex, use `codex plugin marketplace add https://github.com/apostra-public/apostra.git`
and `codex plugin add apostra-developer@apostra`. Then follow
[Connect in five minutes](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/quickstart.md). Pricing is in
[Plan & Billing](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/plan-and-billing.md).

## Sources

* Apostra: [Build with Apostra](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/overview.md), [Capability limits](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/limitations.md),
  [Build an agent](https://docs.apostra.com/v3/build-an-agent.md) and
  [Ad platform compatibility](https://docs.apostra.com/v2/guides/ad-platform-compatibility/index.md).
* [Meta Ads MCP server overview](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/ads-commerce/ads-ai-connectors/ads-mcp-server/ads-mcp-server-overview).
* [Amazon Ads MCP Server open beta announcement](https://advertising.amazon.com/library/news/amazon-ads-mcp-server-open-beta).
* [googleads/google-ads-mcp on GitHub](https://github.com/googleads/google-ads-mcp).
* [AdCP documentation](https://docs.adcontextprotocol.org).


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.