MCP server hosting: pricing & options compared (2026)
Five ways to put an MCP server on the internet, five very different bills. This is the pricing landscape as of July 2026 — including where each option quietly gets expensive, and where the free tiers are genuinely free.
Updated July 2026
The five options at a glance
"MCP server hosting" covers products that do very different jobs: raw compute you deploy to, directories that also host, connector catalogs that bill per call, wrappers that productionize a server you already wrote, and generators that write and host the server for you. Comparing them on price only makes sense once you know which job you are buying.
| Platform | What you get | Entry price | Paid from | You bring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Workers | Edge compute + OAuth provider library; you build and deploy | Free — 100k requests/day | $5/mo | All the code, OAuth wiring, upkeep |
| Smithery | Registry of 6,000+ servers, optional hosting of listed servers | Free to browse/publish | Paid tiers for hosting/usage | An existing server (or pick one from the catalog) |
| Composio | 1,000+ pre-built SaaS integrations exposed as MCP, managed auth | Free — 20k tool calls/mo | $29/mo (200k calls) | Nothing — but only their catalog, per-call billing |
| MintMCP | Wraps your existing STDIO server into a remote OAuth deployment; SOC 2 Type II | Custom / enterprise pricing | Contact sales | A working server; budget for enterprise pricing |
| BuildMyMCPServer | Generates the TypeScript server from a prompt, hosts it behind OAuth 2.1 | Free — 1 server, 100k tool calls/mo | €49/mo (5 servers, 1M calls) | A description of the tool. That's it. |
Cloudflare Workers: cheapest if your time is free
The free tier (100k requests/day, KV, D1, Durable Objects allowances) comfortably runs a personal or small-team MCP server at €0 forever, and the $5/mo paid plan covers almost anything below serious production traffic. The catch is that the price tag measures compute, not effort: you write the server, wire the OAuth provider library, handle token refresh edge cases, and own every upgrade when the MCP spec moves. For a team with engineers who enjoy that work, it is the best deal on this page.
Smithery: pay for distribution, not development
Smithery is primarily a registry — thousands of community servers, CLI install, and hosting for servers published there, with OAuth handled for hosted listings. Browsing and publishing are free; hosted execution moves to paid tiers with usage. It answers "where do I find or distribute a server" more than "who builds mine" — if the tool you need already exists in the catalog, this can be the fastest free path of all.
Composio: per-call pricing for a pre-built catalog
Composio's model is different: you are not hosting your server, you are calling their catalog of 1,000+ integrations with managed auth. Free covers 20k tool calls/month; $29/mo buys 200k, $229/mo buys 2M, with per-call overage beyond. For mainstream SaaS (Gmail, Slack, Salesforce) it is excellent value. The pricing risk is agent-scale traffic — an autonomous agent hammering tools burns per-call budgets fast — and the structural limit is the catalog: your internal API is not in it. More in our Composio alternative guide.
MintMCP: compliance has a price tag
MintMCP wraps an existing STDIO server into a production remote deployment — OAuth brokering, SSO, SCIM, audit trails, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA-aligned controls. Pricing is custom/enterprise as of mid-2026. If your buyer is a compliance team, this is the honest shortlist leader; nothing else in this table carries that certification set. If you are a solo developer, it is not aimed at you.
BuildMyMCPServer: pay for the whole job, skip the build
Our own slot in this table, stated plainly: you describe the tool in natural language, the platform generates the TypeScript server, runs static checks, builds a container and deploys it behind a full OAuth 2.1 authorization server (PKCE, Dynamic Client Registration, Resource Indicators). Hobby is €0 — one server, 100k tool calls/month. Pro is €49/mo for 5 servers and 1M calls; Team €199/mo adds audit logging at 25 servers/10M calls; Enterprise is custom. Full source export on every tier, so the exit path is real. What we do not have: SOC 2 (we are a young product), a giant connector catalog, or edge PoPs on six continents. See full pricing and the template gallery.
Choosing by scenario
- Solo dev, comfortable writing TypeScript, hobby traffic: Cloudflare Workers free tier. Unbeatable if you enjoy the build.
- Need Gmail/Slack/Notion-class connectors this afternoon: Composio free tier, watch the per-call meter as agents scale.
- Have a server, need enterprise compliance sign-off: MintMCP, budget for enterprise pricing.
- Want to publish or discover community servers: Smithery.
- Need a bespoke tool hosted with OAuth, no code, this hour: a generator — that is the job BuildMyMCPServer exists for.
Pricing FAQ
What is the cheapest way to host an MCP server?
If you can write the code yourself: Cloudflare Workers — the free tier covers 100k requests/day, which is more than most personal MCP servers ever see. If you cannot or do not want to write the code, generator platforms start free (BuildMyMCPServer Hobby: 1 server, 100k tool calls/month at €0).
Do I pay per tool call or per server?
Both models exist. Composio bills per tool call across its catalog. Cloudflare bills per request/CPU-time. BuildMyMCPServer prices tiers by server count plus a monthly tool-call allowance. Read the overage terms — per-call platforms get expensive at agent-scale traffic.
Is there a free way to get an OAuth-protected remote MCP server?
Yes, two honest routes: build it yourself on Cloudflare Workers with their OAuth provider library (free tier, your time is the cost), or generate one on a free tier of a hosting generator (BuildMyMCPServer Hobby is €0 for one server with OAuth 2.1 included).
What should enterprises check before picking an MCP host?
Compliance posture (SOC 2 / HIPAA — MintMCP leads here as of mid-2026), data residency, audit logging, SSO, and an exit path. Ask every vendor: can I export the server code and leave?
Related: the four categories of MCP platform, explained · what hosting with OAuth actually involves.
Skip the boilerplate — describe your tool, get a hosted MCP server.
BuildMyMCPServer generates the TypeScript server, wraps it in OAuth 2.1 and deploys it to a public Streamable HTTP URL for Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT. Free tier, source export, no lock-in.
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