Crank vs GOAT SDK¶
The main difference is depth vs breadth. GOAT (Great Onchain Agent Toolkit) is a modular, plugin-based library covering 30+ chains and many wallet providers — broad reach across ecosystems, provider-agnostic on custody. Crank is deep on one thing — non-custodial trading on Solana — and ships the parts a trading agent specifically needs that a general-purpose multi-chain toolkit does not build in: server-enforced guardrails, multi-venue perps routing, a decision journal, and a paper-first path to live execution.
Comparison¶
| Dimension | Crank | GOAT SDK |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Deep: Solana swaps, multi-venue perps, lending, liquid staking, tokenized equities, market intelligence, strategies — one connected trading surface. | Broad: 200+ onchain tools across 30+ chains (Solana, Base, Polygon, and others) via a plugin architecture — install only the tools you need. |
| Custody model | Non-custodial by construction: value-bearing tools return an unsigned transaction for the owner's own wallet to sign. | Provider-agnostic by design: wallet plugins range from raw keypairs you supply to managed options like Crossmint Smart Wallets or Coinbase's CDP wallets — custody depends entirely on which wallet plugin you install. |
| Server-enforced guardrails | A wallet policy (max trade size, daily limit, token allowlist/banlist, position limit, drawdown limit, kill switch) is enforced server-side on every value-bearing call. | Not documented as a built-in feature of the core toolkit; any spending limits depend on the wallet plugin chosen. |
| Perps / derivatives | Multi-venue adapter (Jupiter Perps primary; additional venues gated behind admin-updatable flags). | Not documented — spot swaps, lending/borrowing, and yield strategies are covered; no perpetuals or derivatives tools. |
| MCP support | One hosted MCP endpoint (mcp.crank.ing); also exported as OpenAI, Gemini, and LangChain tool definitions from the same registry. |
An official MCP adapter package (@goat-sdk/adapter-model-context-protocol) is available. |
| Paper / simulate-first trading | Yes — real mainnet quotes, simulated fills, identical tool surface, graduates to live without code changes. | Not documented. |
| Durable agent memory | Private per-wallet decision journal with automatic outcome attribution (realized P&L, fees, slippage) across sessions. | Not documented. |
| Project status | Actively developed; deployed as a hosted service. | The main GitHub repository (goat-sdk/goat) is marked archived — a read-only historical snapshot, no longer accepting issues, pull requests, or updates. Its Python package on PyPI (goat-sdk) has not published a release since March 2025. Worth checking the project's current status directly before depending on it for new work. |
| License | Proprietary hosted service; MCP protocol is open. | MIT, open source. |
| Cost | Reads free; a technology service fee applies to value-bearing actions (volume-tiered, per-action floor — see the fee schedule). | Free, open source; underlying chain and venue fees still apply. |
The short version¶
If your agent needs to touch many chains and you want to pick your own wallet provider per use case, GOAT's plugin catalog is broader than Crank's Solana focus. If your agent specifically trades on Solana and you want guardrails, multi-venue perps routing, a memory of what it did and why, and a paper mode to prove it first — without taking on the toolkit's own custody choices — that depth is what Crank ships. See the mechanics: How AI agents trade non-custodially.
Sources¶
- Architecture, chain/wallet coverage, MCP adapter, license:
github.com/goat-sdk/goat— README, checked 2026-07-22. - Repository status ("[Archived] read-only historical snapshot"):
github.com/goat-sdk/goatrepository banner, checked 2026-07-22. - Package release history:
pypi.org/project/goat-sdk/— release history (latest 0.1.6, March 26, 2025), checked 2026-07-22. - Crank custody model, gate stack, venue adapter, fee schedule: this docs site — non-custodial trading guide, authentication & x402, fee schedule.
Comparison reflects GOAT SDK's publicly documented capabilities and repository status as of the dates above and may change; verify against its current documentation and repository before depending on it. GOAT SDK is a project of its own maintainers; its name is used here for identification only, with no affiliation implied. Noting a project's archived status is a factual, verifiable operational detail, not a criticism of its design. Crank is a non-custodial technology provider, not a broker-dealer or investment adviser; nothing on this page is financial advice.