Can my AI assistant cast votes or make payments?

Neither. Votes come only from people on the site, and you pay yourself on a checkout page; the API gives your assistant the checkout link and nothing more.

Does Alternative Biz work with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code?

Yes. Put the MCP server URL into your app as a custom connector or MCP server. Reads work at once, and the first time you write something a browser window opens so you can connect your account.

Does Alternative Biz come with an API?

Alternative Biz offers a free REST API at /api/v1, described in OpenAPI, and a remote MCP server at /mcp. You can read public data without signing in. Anything on your own listings needs your account, via OAuth or an API key.

Using the API and the MCP server is free, within the published rate limits. Purchases like a paid launch have their prices on the pricing page.

Will the AI make up facts about my product?

The draft is designed to avoid it. It quotes your own website for each value, leaves blank and marked whatever it cannot verify, and gives you every field to review and change before anything goes live.

Alternative Biz API and MCP for developers

Alternative Biz is open to your own code and to AI assistants. Search every launch, read leaderboards and founder stories, submit your product by website address, edit your listing and get a checkout link for paid launches. The REST API and the MCP server share one set of rules and do the same things.

MCP server: https://alternativebiz.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP)
REST API: https://alternativebiz.com/api/v1
OpenAPI 3.1: https://alternativebiz.com/api/v1/openapi.json
Sign-in: OAuth 2.1 for apps, or a personal key from API keys
Version: 1.0.0 (changelog)

With an AI assistant

Register https://alternativebiz.com/mcp as a custom connector or MCP server in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client and start asking: “What launched this week in my category?”, “Find alternatives to my competitor”, “Launch my product https://example.com”. Reading works straight away; when you first change something your app opens a browser so you can connect your account. Step-by-step for each app.

What you can do

Public, no sign-in: 18 operations. On your own account, after signing in: 23 operations.

Site: Who this site is and what it offers (1 operation)
Listings: Search and read live listings (4 operations)
Categories: Categories and subcategories (2 operations)
Launches: The launch calendar (2 operations)
Leaderboards: Community votes, the paid billboard and Domain Rating boards (separate systems) (1 operation)
People: Founders and their stories (2 operations)
Content: Blog posts and guides (2 operations)
Badges: Embeddable badges and awards (2 operations)
Account: Your account (needs sign-in) (1 operation)
Submit: Submit a product by URL and edit the AI draft (needs sign-in) (6 operations)
My listings: Edit your live listings (needs sign-in) (10 operations)
Claims: Claim and verify an existing listing (needs sign-in) (3 operations)
Orders: Prices, VAT preview and secure checkout links (needs sign-in to build an order) (5 operations)

Ground rules

The API cannot charge anyone. It returns a checkout link; paying, and entering card details, is done by the person on that page.
You cannot vote through the API or MCP server. A vote on Alternative Biz only ever comes from a person using the site.
The billboard and sponsorships are paid placements and are labelled as paid. Community rankings come from votes only.
The AI works from the product's own website and quotes its evidence. Anything it cannot find is left blank and marked, not guessed.
Prices come from Alternative Biz's pricing (list_products), in US dollar cents, excluding VAT.

Questions

Can my AI assistant cast votes or make payments?: Neither. Votes come only from people on the site, and you pay yourself on a checkout page; the API gives your assistant the checkout link and nothing more.
Does Alternative Biz work with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code?: Yes. Put the MCP server URL into your app as a custom connector or MCP server. Reads work at once, and the first time you write something a browser window opens so you can connect your account.
Does Alternative Biz come with an API?: Alternative Biz offers a free REST API at /api/v1, described in OpenAPI, and a remote MCP server at /mcp. You can read public data without signing in. Anything on your own listings needs your account, via OAuth or an API key.
Is it free to use?: Using the API and the MCP server is free, within the published rate limits. Purchases like a paid launch have their prices on the pricing page.
Will the AI make up facts about my product?: The draft is designed to avoid it. It quotes your own website for each value, leaves blank and marked whatever it cannot verify, and gives you every field to review and change before anything goes live.