# AX Check: bannerbear.com
Checked 2026-10-11.

Bannerbear's docs, pricing, and API are all easy for agents to find.
20 of 23 checklist items passed, with none flagged for attention. Pricing is posted openly at $49/$149/$299 per month with credit limits spelled out.

## Onboarding needs a login

## Coding sessions
Two of three independent sessions completed the task and both described pricing accurately, citing the plan tiers, credit-consumption rules, and trial limits straight from the site. The third session did not finish.

### DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/4d944c24-a9d6-4bb4-bef1-2db4f8a9ec05) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/bannerbear.com/sessions/deepseek.json)
Pricing was presented as a full plan table with explicit credit-consumption rules and trial limits, not a bare number.

Evidence: get_final_output includes a pricing table (Free/Automate/Scale/Enterprise) plus credit-cost assumptions (formats x scale, AI credit add-ons, trial limits) sourced from the pricing page fetched at seq 27/35.
#### End-to-end onboarding
- **Onboarding needs a login**: No Bannerbear API key was available in the sandbox environment. The agent probed only a pre-set PI_GATEWAY_API_KEY (unrelated to Bannerbear), confirmed via unauthenticated/bogus-key requests that the API requires a real key (401 responses), and explicitly stated it could not obtain one. It built and smoke-tested an SDK script but only ran it with no key or a deliberately bogus key, both of which failed authentication (401). No authenticated operation against the hosted Bannerbear API was ever demonstrated.
  Event 6:

  ```text
  PI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=<set>
  ```
  Event 71:

  ```text
  === run with bogus key ===
  Failed: HTTP error 401
  exit=1
  ```
  Event 84:

  ```text
  I don't have a Bannerbear API key, so I could only scaffold and smoke-test the example — **no live image was rendered**. I deliberately did not ask you to paste a secret.
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
None identified in this transcript.

#### Blockers
- **No Bannerbear API key available to authenticate**: The sandbox had no Bannerbear credentials, only an unrelated gateway key. The agent correctly avoided fabricating a key, tested with no key and a bogus key (both returning 401), and stopped short of any live render. This is a missing-credentials limitation of the test environment, not a product defect — a normal API key is a standard onboarding step for this kind of SaaS.
  Event 7:

  ```text
  401
  
  ```
  Event 15:

  ```text
  {"message":"Unauthorized: Invalid API Key"}
  ```
  Event 84:

  ```text
  blocked on a valid API key
  ```
- **docs.bannerbear.com does not resolve**: A curl to docs.bannerbear.com failed DNS resolution, forcing the agent to switch to developers.bannerbear.com for documentation. This is an environment/DNS or product redirect issue rather than an agent mistake, and it was quickly recovered by finding the working docs URL.
  Event 15:

  ```text
  curl: (6) Could not resolve host: docs.bannerbear.com
  ```
  Event 21:

  ```text
  https://docs.bannerbear.com -> curl: (6) Could not resolve host: docs.bannerbear.com
  000 https://docs.bannerbear.com/
  ```

#### Suggested Changes
- **Fix or redirect the docs.bannerbear.com hostname**: Requests to https://docs.bannerbear.com fail DNS resolution entirely (curl error 6), while developers.bannerbear.com serves the real API reference. If docs.bannerbear.com is intended to be a live or redirecting subdomain, point its DNS at the correct target; verify by curling https://docs.bannerbear.com and confirming a 200 response instead of a resolution failure.
  Event 15:

  ```text
  curl: (6) Could not resolve host: docs.bannerbear.com
  ```

### Kimi K3
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/ef1152eb-6f76-4622-a986-d7c466805d8b) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/bannerbear.com/sessions/kimi.json)
Pricing was given with explicit assumptions: free trial credit count, example paid tier, per-credit cost model, and a caveat to verify current pricing on the site.

Evidence: Final output 'Pricing' section lists free trial ~30 credits, Starter ~$49/mo for 1000 credits, per-credit overage, and flags 'as of my knowledge; check bannerbear.com/#pricing' as the basis/caveat.
#### End-to-end onboarding
- **Onboarding needs a login**: Agent never obtained real Bannerbear credentials. It checked environment variables for existing keys (none found), confirmed the hosted API returns 401 for unauthenticated/invalid requests, and explicitly stated a human must sign up via email and the dashboard to get an API key and build a template before any real render can happen. No authenticated operation against the live product was ever completed.
  Event 11:

  ```text
  PI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=<redacted>
  done
  
  ```
  Event 22:

  ```text
  SDK loads OK, constructor: function
  Failed: HTTP error 401
  
  ```
  Event 24:

  ```text
  Bannerbear has no sandbox mode, and an API key requires a human to sign up (email + dashboard) and create a template in the UI — templates can't be fully designed via API for this use case.
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
None identified in this transcript.

#### Blockers
- **No self-service API key or template creation**: Bannerbear requires a human to sign up via email/dashboard and manually design an image template in the UI before the API can be used for real renders. This is normal product behavior (human account + visual template builder), not a product defect or agent error. The agent correctly identified this and stopped rather than proceeding with fake credentials.
  Event 24:

  ```text
  Bannerbear has no sandbox mode, and an API key requires a human to sign up (email + dashboard) and create a template in the UI — templates can't be fully designed via API for this use case. If you give me `BANNERBEAR_API_KEY` and a `TEMPLATE_UID`, the script runs as-is.
  ```

#### Suggested Changes
- **Add a sandbox or test-mode API key option**: Observed friction: the agent could not proceed past a 401 error without a human obtaining a real API key and manually building a template in the dashboard first. Adding a free sandbox/demo API key with a pre-built sample template (reachable via docs or a signup-free endpoint) would let automated agents exercise the create_image flow end-to-end without manual account setup. Verify by having a fresh agent call create_image with the sandbox key and confirming it returns a completed image status.
  Event 24:

  ```text
  Bannerbear has no sandbox mode, and an API key requires a human to sign up (email + dashboard) and create a template in the UI
  ```

### Qwen 3.8 Max
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/c6213d49-5ca3-493b-966e-5282dbe1a960) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/bannerbear.com/sessions/qwen.json)

#### End-to-end onboarding
- **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: The transcript (through seq 103) never obtains a Bannerbear API key. The agent confirms no credentials exist in the environment, hits the live API unauthenticated and receives a 401, and spends the rest of the session only reading public documentation, the npm package, and the OpenAPI schema. No authenticated request to the real Bannerbear API succeeds within this excerpt.
  Event 7:

  ```text
  PI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=<set>
  ```
  Event 51:

  ```text
  code=401
  {"message":"Unauthorized: No API Key is set"}
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
None identified in this transcript.

#### Blockers
- **No Bannerbear API key available in the sandbox**: The environment only exposes a gateway key for the agent harness itself; grepping for any Bannerbear/banner-related env var turned up nothing. This is a test-environment/credential limitation, not a product defect — Bannerbear requires an API key for all v5 calls by design, and the agent correctly identified this via a live 401 response rather than guessing.
  Event 7:

  ```text
  PI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=<set>
  ```
  Event 51:

  ```text
  code=401
  {"message":"Unauthorized: No API Key is set"}
  ```

#### Suggested Changes
None identified in this transcript.

### Task given to each agent
Help me build a simple example using Bannerbear. Tell me how pricing works, and briefly tell me whether this product will be easy for you to manage. Let me know if you get blocked. If this product has no developer workflow you can act on, say so plainly and stop. Stay light: use the hosted product through its SDK or API. Do not start local service stacks or wait for long-running commands; if the quickstart requires either, say so plainly and stop.

No product credentials were supplied and no purchases were authorized.

## Score: A · 100/100 (provisional)
Grades come from completed site checks. Coding sessions and skipped checks do not affect the score.

### Clarity
- **Pass** — Homepage answers Markdown requests

  ```text
  Homepage returned text/markdown (200) when requested with Accept: text/markdown.
  ```

- **Pass** — llms.txt provides an actionable documentation index

  ```text
  llms.txt (200) indexes products, docs, API reference, quick start, demos and integrations.
  ```

- **Pass** — llms.txt provides navigation guidance

  ```text
  llms.txt groups links under Product, Docs & guides, Demos and Optional sections.
  ```

- **Pass** — llms.txt mentions offered API, MCP, and skills

  ```text
  llms.txt mentions API reference, MCP for AI agents, and integrations.
  ```

- **Pass** — A compact guide representation exists

  ```text
  llms.txt is a compact Markdown index of Bannerbear products, tools, demos and docs.
  ```

- **Pass** — A focused guide is directly retrievable

  ```text
  llms.txt and the API Quick Start page are directly retrievable as Markdown.
  ```

- **Pass** — Equivalent instructions fit a token budget

  ```text
  llms.txt is 1,647 tokens, well under the 8,000-token budget.
  ```

- **Pass** — Product-docs links survive format changes

  ```text
  Homepage Markdown keeps docs, pricing, SDK and quickstart links intact.
  ```

- **Pass** — The compact guide is independently actionable

  ```text
  Quick Start gives concrete POST payloads with auth header for images, PDFs, videos, movies.
  ```

- **Pass** — Install and next-step links resolve

  ```text
  Fetched install/next-step targets (API Reference, examples, pricing, MCP) all returned 200.
  ```


### Onboarding
- **Pass** — Docs lead to a relevant quickstart

  ```text
  llms.txt and site nav link 'API Quick Start' to /examples/, a concrete quickstart with image, PDF, video examples.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Installation commands are extractable

  ```text
  No installation or CLI setup commands offered; quickstart uses raw fetch calls, not an installable package.
  ```

- **Pass** — Code examples are available without interaction

  ```text
  Quickstart page shows full JavaScript fetch examples for images, PDFs, videos, movies without interaction.
  ```

- **Pass** — Prerequisites and auth boundaries are explicit

  ```text
  Examples show Bearer API_KEY auth header; pricing FAQ notes API keys are scoped to a workspace.
  ```


### Pricing
- **Pass** — Pricing is readable without interaction

  ```text
  Pricing page shows $49, $149, $299 USD/mo plans with features, no interaction needed.
  ```

- **Pass** — Prices are stated, not gated

  ```text
  All three plan prices are stated openly on the pricing page, not gated.
  ```

- **Pass** — Pricing units and limits are explicit

  ```text
  Plans list API/AI credit allowances; FAQ explains credit costs and limits.
  ```

- **Pass** — Agents identify pricing and its assumptions

  ```text
  2 of 3 sessions were judged on pricing; 0 fell short. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Pricing was presented as a full plan table with explicit credit-consumption rules and trial limits, not a bare number.
  
  Evidence: get_final_output includes a pricing table (Free/Automate/Scale/Enterprise) plus credit-cost assumptions (formats x scale, AI credit add-ons, trial limits) sourced from the pricing page fetched at seq 27/35. Kimi K3: Pricing was given with explicit assumptions: free trial credit count, example paid tier, per-credit cost model, and a caveat to verify current pricing on the site.
  
  Evidence: Final output 'Pricing' section lists free trial ~30 credits, Starter ~$49/mo for 1000 credits, per-credit overage, and flags 'as of my knowledge; check bannerbear.com/#pricing' as the basis/caveat. This behavioural item does not affect the fast grade.
  ```


### Activation
- **Pass** — An API reference or OpenAPI spec is reachable

  ```text
  API reference at developers.bannerbear.com/v5 and OpenAPI 3.1 schema at api.bannerbear.com/v5/openapi.json both fetched.
  ```

- **Pass** — An MCP server is documented and well-formed

  ```text
  MCP server documented with hosted OAuth endpoints, tool profiles, and npx @bannerbear/mcp local install.
  ```

- **Skipped** — A CLI install path is documented

  ```text
  No dedicated CLI install path documented; npx @bannerbear/mcp is an MCP server, not a product CLI.
  ```

- **Pass** — SDK packages resolve on their registries

  ```text
  npm bannerbear and PyPI bannerbear registry lookups both returned HTTP 200.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Agent skills are published

  ```text
  No agent skills published or referenced in any fetched Bannerbear document.
  ```



[Full report data](https://www.ax-check.com/bannerbear.com/report.json)