POD Benchmark MCP¶

The question a print-on-demand seller actually asks is which supplier is cheaper for this shirt in this size delivered to this country, and that question now has one call.

Server type: Remote (Streamable HTTP)
Endpoint:    https://podbenchmark.com/api/mcp
Transport:   JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP, JSON or SSE responses
Auth:        none, read-only, 120 requests per minute per IP
Tools:       10, read from a live tools/list
Built by:    POD Benchmark (podbenchmark.com)
Registry:    com.podbenchmark/podbenchmark

Why This Matters for Operators¶

Print-on-demand margins are decided before a single order ships. The same unisex tee is a different base cost at Printful, Printify, Gelato, CustomCat, Prodigi, Inkthreadable and Fourthwall, and the gap widens again by size, colour and destination because shipping is folded into the price differently at each supplier. Most sellers settle this with a spreadsheet that is stale the week it is finished, or with whichever supplier they signed up with first.

An assistant holding a normalized supplier catalog answers the comparison inside the conversation where the product decision is being made, and answers it with the delivered number rather than the base number.

What It Actually Does¶

initialize returned HTTP 200 as podbenchmark 1.0.0 on protocol 2025-06-18, advertising tools with listChanged and resources. tools/list returned 10 tools with full JSON input schemas.

Two calls were executed against the live endpoint:

list_suppliers returned ok: true with seven suppliers, each carrying an id, a name, a type field and its vendor page: customcat, fourthwall (type direct), gelato, inkthreadable (type direct), printful, printify and prodigi.
list_categories returned ok: true, destination: "US", currency: "USD", and per-category product counts with starting delivered prices: Apparel 1,971 products of which 1,722 priced across 6 suppliers from $11.33, T-Shirts 457 products with 389 priced from $12.08, Hoodies 277 products with 232 priced from $12.08 and above.

Tool	What it answers
`search_products`	Find a POD product across suppliers by category, type or keyword
`list_categories`	Categories with product counts and starting delivered prices
`get_product`	Specs, fabric, fit, print methods, similar products
`get_product_options`	Supplier pricing for one product in a specific size or colour
`compare_product`	Which supplier costs less for one product, with the delivered price
`resolve_supplier_link`	Paste a supplier URL from Printify, Printful, Gelato, Prodigi, CustomCat, Fourthwall or Inkthreadable and get the normalized product
`list_suppliers`	The supplier set being compared, with type and site
`get_supplier`	A supplier's plans, monthly fees, branding, checkout model, support
`get_supplier_prices`	A supplier's price position overall, by category, or against one other supplier
`supplier_guide`	Choosing a supplier for t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, wall art, stickers or phone cases

compare_product requires a canonicalProductId with a destination and currency, which is where a malformed call is caught: passing a free-text query returned an input validation error naming the three required fields rather than a guess. That is the right failure shape for a pricing tool.

Integration with CorpusIQ¶

CorpusIQ is the connector layer that lets AI assistants read the systems a business already runs on - accounting, payments, CRM, email, files and analytics - and answer with the source named. It is read-only by design: it retrieves data and never writes to, or acts in, a connected system, which is what makes it safe to point at live accounts.

This page is part of the CorpusIQ directory, the reference we maintain for the MCP server and agent-skill ecosystem. Run alongside CorpusIQ, a third-party server like this one can be combined with a company's own business data in a single answer.

See what CorpusIQ connects

Limitations Recorded¶

The catalog is normalized by the vendor, so a wrong normalization becomes a wrong comparison that looks authoritative.
Prices are US-destination and USD by default; other destinations and currencies are parameters, and the guide does not assume them equal.
The product count is the vendor's, not independently verified; 1,722 of 1,971 apparel products carry a price, so roughly one in eight has no comparable number.
Payment and shipping terms, tax and returns are outside the server: this compares cost, not landed obligation.
The free tier has a per-IP rate limit of 120 requests a minute with no key to raise it.

FAQ¶

Is this the same as quoting from the supplier dashboards?¶

No. The supplier dashboards show your own account's catalog and your own agreed pricing. This is a cross-supplier comparison surface with a single normalized product identity, which is what makes a like-for-like answer possible at all.

Can the assistant place an order?¶

No. The server is read-only and has no order, payment or account tools.

Does it replace a costing spreadsheet?¶

It replaces the price column. Volume tiers, transaction fees, platform fees and returns still belong in your own model.