SP-API vs Amazon Ads API: what each one does
Amazon splits your business across two APIs. Your sales live in one, your ad spend lives in the other, and your profit lives in neither.
Short answer
The Selling Partner API (SP-API) is Amazon's API for selling: orders, inventory, fees, settlements, catalog, pricing and reports. The Amazon Ads API is for advertising: campaigns, keywords, targets, bids and ad reports. They use separate authorizations, so answering profit questions means connecting both.
On this page
The short version
| Selling Partner API (SP-API) | Amazon Ads API | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Selling: orders, inventory, fees, settlements, catalog, pricing, listings, reports | Advertising: campaigns, ad groups, keywords, targets, bids, budgets, ad reports |
| Replaces | Amazon MWS, the older seller API | The ads console, for software |
| Who uses it | Sellers and vendors, and the software they authorize | Advertisers and agencies, and the software they authorize |
| Sign-in | Login with Amazon, authorized from Seller Central | Login with Amazon, authorized for your advertising account |
| Scope | A selling account and its marketplaces | An ad profile: one advertiser in one marketplace |
| Regions | North America, Europe, Far East | North America, Europe, Far East |
| Big data | Asynchronous reports | Asynchronous reports |
What the SP-API gives you
The SP-API is a family of APIs, one per area of Seller Central:
- Orders and sales metrics, by hour, day or month.
- FBA inventory and inbound shipments, plus Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD).
- Finances: fees, refunds, reimbursements, transactions and settlements.
- Catalog and pricing: product details, your offers, competitors' offers and the Buy Box.
- Reports: the same flat files you download from Seller Central, requested by software.
- Listings and feeds to change listings, if an app is allowed to.
Buyer names and addresses are restricted. An app needs a special restricted data token, and extra review from Amazon, to read them.
What the Amazon Ads API gives you
The Ads API covers Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display, plus reporting. Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud have their own access on top. For a seller, the core is:
- Structure: campaigns, ad groups and which products are advertised.
- Targeting: keywords, product targets and negatives.
- Money: bids, budgets and Amazon's bid recommendations.
- Reports: search terms, keywords, targets, campaigns and advertised products by date range.
Why you need both
Most questions worth asking cross the line:
| Question | Needs SP-API for | Needs Ads API for |
|---|---|---|
| What's my real profit per ASIN? | Sales, fees, refunds, storage | Ad spend per ASIN |
| What's my TACoS? | Total sales | Ad spend |
| Should I pause ads on a product that's running out? | Inventory and days of cover | Campaign state and spend |
| Did ads lift organic sales? | Total and organic sales | Ad-attributed sales |
Neither API knows what the other one knows. That's why ad tools often can't tell you profit, and accounting tools often can't tell you which search terms to cut.
Using them without writing code
To build on these APIs yourself, you register as a developer with Amazon for each one, set up Login with Amazon, handle token refresh, respect each API's rate limits and poll for reports. Doable, but it's a job.
An MCP server does that part once. With WavyCloud, you approve both connections on Amazon's consent screens, then ask your AI app questions that use both. Seller Central access is read-only; ads changes need your approval after a preview.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon advertising data available in the SP-API?
No. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display data comes from the Amazon Ads API. The SP-API covers selling: orders, inventory, fees, catalog and pricing.
Do I need a developer account to use the SP-API or the Ads API?
To build your own app, yes: you register as a developer and get approved for each API. To use an app someone else built, like WavyCloud, no. You just authorize it on Amazon's consent screens.
What replaced Amazon MWS?
The Selling Partner API. MWS was Amazon's older seller API, and Amazon has moved sellers and developers to the SP-API.