Smithery alternative: when you need hosting, not a directory
Registry and generator solve different halves of the same problem. Smithery answers 'where do I find or publish an MCP server?' A generator answers 'who builds and hosts mine?' Picking the wrong one wastes an afternoon; here is how to tell them apart in two minutes.
Updated July 2026
What Smithery does well
Smithery is the closest thing MCP has to a package index. As of mid-2026 it lists thousands of community-built servers (their catalog crossed 6,000+ some time ago), searchable by category, installable via CLI, and — for servers published there — runnable as hosted remote endpoints with OAuth handled by the platform. Its Toolbox meta-server can even route an agent dynamically across registry servers so you don't wire each one by hand. Browsing and publishing are free; hosted execution and higher usage sit behind paid tiers.
Two jobs it does better than anyone: discovery ("does a server for X already exist?") and distribution ("let people find and run the server I wrote"). If either is your actual need, stop reading and use Smithery.
The assumption baked into a registry
Every path through Smithery starts from an existing server: one you found in the catalog, or one you wrote and published. The moment your need is a tool that nobody has built — a wrapper around your internal API, a scoped read-only view of your own database, a workflow specific to your team — the registry has nothing to list. You are back to the MCP SDK, TypeScript, container images and OAuth wiring before Smithery can help you host or distribute anything.
The alternative: generate, then host
BuildMyMCPServer replaces the "write it first" step. Describe the tool in natural language; the platform generates the TypeScript MCP server, runs static checks, builds an isolated Docker container and deploys it behind a full OAuth 2.1 authorization server (PKCE, Dynamic Client Registration, Resource Indicators) at a public Streamable HTTP URL. Claude Desktop, Cursor and ChatGPT connect with a copy-paste snippet. The full source stays exportable — if you later want to publish the server on Smithery or self-host it, you can take the code and go.
Side by side
| Smithery | BuildMyMCPServer | |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Find, publish and run existing servers | Create and host a server that doesn't exist yet |
| Starting point | A server (yours or the catalog's) | A sentence describing the tool |
| Catalog size | Thousands of community servers | Small first-party template gallery |
| Hosting & auth | Hosted endpoints with OAuth for listed servers | Every server deployed behind OAuth 2.1, isolated container |
| Pricing shape | Free registry; paid hosting/usage tiers | Free: 1 server, 100k calls/mo; Pro €49/mo |
| Exit path | Your code was always yours | Full TypeScript source export |
Decision rule
- The tool might already exist → search Smithery first. Genuinely — five minutes there can save the whole build.
- You wrote a server and want users → publish on Smithery; that is its home turf.
- The tool is bespoke to your company → generate it. A registry cannot list what only you need.
- Long-term: the routes compose — generate the bespoke server, export the source, publish it wherever distribution helps.
Honest caveats
We are the young product in this comparison: no SOC 2, a small template gallery next to a registry of thousands, and a generator that is bounded by what a prompt can specify — clear inputs, outputs and API calls. What we ask you to test is the part that matters when nothing in any catalog fits: prompt to hosted, OAuth-protected server in about a minute, on the free tier, starting from scratch or from a template.
Related: MCP hosting pricing compared · registries vs connectors vs infra vs generators · Composio alternative.
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.
Start building →