iCapital vs CAIS: API, MCP and investor access compared

Key differences

• API. iCapital: partner only (REST, for partner and fund administrator users). CAIS: partner only (for partner users).
• MCP server. iCapital: not offered. CAIS: in beta (vendor-maintained).
• Email notifications. iCapital: available. CAIS: not documented.
• Capabilities. Listed for iCapital only: KYC.
• Regions. Listed for iCapital only: Global, Europe and Asia Pacific.
• Asset classes. Listed for iCapital only: Infrastructure.
• Automation in the terms. Recorded as prohibited for iCapital and unknown for CAIS.

What the entries have in common

• Neither entry documents SFTP or webhooks.
• Investor-side API: not offered for either, according to the assessment.
• Difficulty: both are rated 4 of 5 (web login only, exports possible).
• Export formats: both list PDF.
• Standards: both list SAML SSO.
• Known deployments: none documented for either yet.

Which fits which need

Neither product is right for every team. The statements below are conditional and come straight from the registry fields above.

For investors and LP operations teams

• If your investors or your operations team need documents and data through an API, the registry records the API as partner only (aimed at partner and fund administrator users) for iCapital and partner only (aimed at partner users) for CAIS. Access for the investor itself is recorded as not offered for either.
• If you want to reach the data from an AI assistant, the MCP server is not offered for iCapital and in beta for CAIS. A vendor MCP server can still be limited to the vendor's direct customers, so read the research notes below for who may sign in.
• If you process capital call and distribution notices from your inbox, email notifications are available for iCapital and not documented for CAIS.
• If you load files into your own systems, the registry lists PDF for both.
• If you plan to automate your own login, automation in the terms is prohibited for iCapital and unknown for CAIS. Where it is prohibited or unknown, ask the GP or the vendor for a sanctioned channel first.

For GPs, fund administrators and buyers

• If you need to connect the product to your back office, both entries record API partner only, webhooks not documented and SFTP not documented.
• If the product must carry the core LP reporting items (capital calls, distributions, capital account statements and tax documents), the structured capabilities cover all four for both.
• If your investors are concentrated in particular markets, the regions recorded are Global, North America, Europe and Asia Pacific for iCapital and North America for CAIS.
• If you manage a specific strategy, the asset classes recorded are private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds and fund of funds for iCapital and private equity, private credit, real estate, hedge funds and fund of funds for CAIS.
• If you want to see who already runs each product, the registry has no documented deployments for either yet. Operators can add theirs to the registry.
• If your investors will want programmatic access later, the difficulty rating is 4 of 5 for both, where 1 is a documented self-serve API an investor can use and 5 is web login only with MFA.

For a structured shortlist beyond these two products, see the guide how to choose an investor portal.

What the research says

iCapital

Assessment. No public API; partner-only integration docs; ToS expressly prohibits automated systems and intelligent agents except authorized APIs; documents reachable only via web or via an advisor/custodian integration.

Research notes. Confidence: high that no public/self-serve API exists (API Evangelist probe 2026-08/10: no dev portal, /openapi.json 404). Medium confidence that a partner API and a data-management feed exist (press releases: BridgeFT 2025, AltExchange acquisition 2024; Sacra analysis). Terms of Service s.7.1 prohibit 'any automated system (excluding authorized APIs)' and 'spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents', and require access 'through the interface provided by iCapital'; s.3.1 forbids sharing credentials, s.3.2 allows designated Authorized Users (employees, advisors, agents). MFA method on web login not confirmed. Investor-side API: none found.

• Web: Advisor/wealth-manager platform; end investors typically reach iCapital via their advisor's instance or custodian SSO. MFA methods not confirmed from public docs.
• API: No public developer portal, API reference or OpenAPI contract. Third-party catalog (API Evangelist, profiled 2026-08-01) states API documentation is available to integration partners only via sales/technical support. iCapital Data Management (ex-AltExchange/Mirador) delivers data to custodians and reporting vendors (BridgeFT partnership 2025) but transport (API vs SFTP) is not publicly documented.
• MCP: No iCapital MCP server found in the official MCP registry or GitHub as of 2026-11-07. April 2026 Anthropic partnership embeds Claude inside iCapital's platform; no MCP endpoint announced. A third-party Truthifi connector claims to link iCapital accounts to Claude (not vendor-maintained).
• SFTP: iCapital Data Management advertises delivery 'to any downstream reporting system'; SFTP not confirmed.
• Email: Capital call/distribution notifications via platform; details not public.
• Terms: ToS 7.1(iv),(v),(viii) bar automated access and intelligent agents except 'authorized APIs'. Authorized Users (advisors/agents) may be designated under 3.2.

Sources: providers.apievangelist.com/providers/icapital-network/ · icapital.com/terms-of-service/ · www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260430357138/en/ · sacra.com/c/icapital-network/

CAIS

Assessment. Advisor-only platform; MCP server in limited release for select advisors; data feed to Tamarac requires setup fee; no public API docs; end investor has no direct programmatic path.

Research notes. Confidence: high that an advisor-only MCP server exists in limited release (InvestmentNews/BusinessWire 2026-05-19; press-release evidence, not vendor docs). High confidence that a CAIS->Tamarac data feed exists (Tamarac help page). No public API docs; APIs are partner-gated. Terms of Use do not explicitly address bots/scraping but limit each username/password to one subscriber and reserve monitoring; no explicit permission for consented automation. End investors generally do not log in directly; the advisor is the user. Investor-side API: none found.

• Web: Advisor-facing platform (2,000+ wealth firms, ~62,000 advisors). SSO into CAIS from Tamarac is documented (no fee). End-investor login and MFA methods not confirmed.
• API: CAIS COO (May 2026) refers to 'expanding our AI-driven APIs' for partner platforms ('Alts Engine'); no public developer portal or docs found. Advisor data feed to Tamarac exists (creates/updates security snapshots; one-time setup fee; contact Tamarac@caisgroup.com) but transport is undocumented.
• MCP: CAIS launched 'CAIS as an MCP server' with Anthropic Claude on 2026-05-19, available to a select group of advisors in the CAIS network. Endpoint, auth and tool list not published; not in official MCP registry. Advisor-side, not investor-side.
• Terms: Terms silent on automated access; single-user credentials; 'unauthorized use' may be prosecuted.

Sources: www.investmentnews.com/alternatives/cais-embeds-claude-ai-into-advisor-workflows-for-alternatives-intelligence/266654 · testhelp.tamaracinc.com/help/content/tamarac_reporting/integrations/alternative_investments_integrations/cais_integration.htm · www.caisgroup.com/terms-of-use

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