Instatus vs Pick an Agency

Instatus's REST API (`api.instatus.com`) lets a status-page owner script incident and maintenance updates, component status changes, and subscriber management for their own hosted status page. Every request must carry an `Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>` header and a page ID from the dashboard, confirmed live via a 401 "API key is not sent in request header" response on an unauthenticated GET to `/v1/pages`; the same endpoint echoes a matching `access-control-allow-origin` on both a GET and a separate OPTIONS preflight sent with an Origin header, confirming the API is browser-callable. Instatus itself runs a permanent free-forever plan alongside paid per-project tiers, with no separate gate on API access.

Pick an Agency runs a free, no-signup REST + MCP API over its directory of 47,000+ verified marketing agencies. It has `/search`, `/agencies/{slug}`, and `/match` endpoints for shortlisting agencies by service, location, and rating, plus a machine-readable OpenAPI spec at `/api/v1/openapi.json`. A live GET this run against `/search` and against `/match` both returned real agency records with `access-control-allow-origin: *` and no auth challenge. This confirms the stored 'None' auth and open CORS policy with real JSON payloads.