Best MCP servers and tools (2026)

1. 1.SuperGatewayMIT stdio↔SSE/WS bridge for MCP transports

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 2.9k GitHub stars

   VerdictMIT MCP transport bridge. Wire stdio to remote clients; expect zero new capabilities.

   CatchPlumbing only — not a Playwright/Chrome DevTools MCP capability server. It does not add browser, docs, or symbol tools; it only rewires transport. If your client already speaks the server’s native transport, you do not need it.

2. 2.FastMCPApache-2.0 framework to build MCP servers/clients/apps

   Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 28.1k GitHub stars

   VerdictApache-2.0 MCP framework. Ship servers with it; do not confuse it with a tool marketplace.

   CatchBuild MCP apps ≠ use live MCP servers. Distinct from Playwright MCP / Context7 / Serena (capability servers) and from SuperGateway (transport glue). Horizon paid optional for ops at scale; day-one path is OSS FastMCP alone.

3. 3.mcp-remoteMIT npx stdio↔remote MCP proxy with OAuth support

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 1.6k GitHub stars

   VerdictMIT remote-MCP stdio shim. Use until your client speaks OAuth remote natively.

   CatchVs SuperGateway (bidirectional stdio↔SSE/WS bridge): mcp-remote is the client-side remote+OAuth drop-in, not a capability server and not a full gateway product. Some clients already speak unauth remote MCP — you only need this for OAuth/legacy stdio hosts. Adds a local Node process in the path.

4. 4.MCP InspectorMIT official MCP server debugger — web, CLI, and TUI

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 11.1k GitHub stars

   VerdictOfficial MIT MCP inspector. Test servers here; ship them elsewhere.

   CatchDebug surface, not a production MCP gateway or registry (see Smithery) and not transport glue (SuperGateway/mcp-remote). You still author servers elsewhere (FastMCP, etc.). v2 is the active line; pin versions in CI.

5. 5.GitHub MCP ServerMIT official GitHub MCP — issues, PRs, code, workflows for agents

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 33.7k GitHub stars

   VerdictOfficial MIT GitHub MCP. Use for GitHub; use Composio when you need 1000 apps.

   CatchVs Composio (multi-app auth fabric): this is GitHub-only, official, and PAT/OAuth scoped to GitHub. Hosted remote path ties to GitHub/Copilot auth; local mode is yours to run. Permissions are the catch — over-scoped tokens are how agents leak. Not a generic toolkit marketplace.

6. 6.mcp2cliMIT runtime MCP/OpenAPI/GraphQL→CLI — zero codegen

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 2.4k GitHub stars

   VerdictMIT MCP/OpenAPI/GraphQL CLI wrapper. Shell tools without shipping schemas every turn.

   CatchVs SuperGateway / mcp-remote (transport bridges) and MCP Inspector (debug UI): mcp2cli is a runtime CLI façade for APIs/MCP, not a gateway product and not an inspector. GraphQL mode needs introspection. You still trust whatever endpoint you point it at.

7. 7.mcp-useMIT fullstack TypeScript MCP — servers, apps, clients, agents

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 10.8k GitHub stars

   VerdictMIT fullstack MCP kit. Build servers and Apps; Manufact is optional soft upsell.

   CatchVs FastMCP (Python MCP framework), mcp-agent (MCP-as-runtime + Temporal), and Composio (managed tool/auth catalog): mcp-use is fullstack MCP app/server kit, not a multi-SaaS OAuth fabric. Manufact Free is an optional hosted/upsell path — core stays MIT you run yourself.

8. 8.RowboatApache-2.0 local-first AI coworker — knowledge graph + MCP

   Free / OSS · Freemium · 18k GitHub stars

   VerdictApache-2.0 local AI coworker. Graph memory + MCP; paid cloud is optional.

   CatchVs OpenClaw / Continue / Claude Code (coding seats) and Mem0/Letta (memory runtimes): Rowboat is a full coworker desktop with graph memory, not a library you embed. Hosted Starter/Pro plans are paid convenience; OSS/local path is the free forever bar. Shell access on your machine means trust boundaries matter.

9. 9.mcporterMIT MCP as CLI + generate-cli / emit-ts (OpenClaw)

   Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 5.1k GitHub stars

   VerdictMIT MCP→CLI/TS kit. Generate or call; different shape than mcp2cli runtime façade.

   CatchVs mcp2cli (runtime MCP/OpenAPI→CLI, zero codegen): mcporter leans generate-cli/emit-ts packaging and TS API shape — pick based on whether you want codegen’d CLIs vs pure runtime discovery. You still trust the MCP servers you wrap. Not an MCP transport gateway (see SuperGateway/mcp-remote).

10. 10.MCPJamOSS MCP testing, debugging, and evals platform

    Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 2.3k GitHub stars

    VerdictApache-2.0 MCP test platform. Use for real-client MCP debugging/evals; watch the proprietary evals carve-out.

    CatchVs MCP Inspector (official MIT debugger): MCPJam is the broader test/eval platform with hosted gravity, not only the reference inspector. Some `/server/services` and evals paths are separately licensed proprietary portions — treat the free OSS inspector path as the bar, not every hosted feature.

Also reviewed (41)

• SLayer — MIT embeddable semantic layer for agents — MCP, SQL expressions, dbt/Cube import
• PageIndex MCP — Vectorless tree-index RAG over long PDFs — freemium MCP for agents
• Agent Native — Define an action once and expose it to agents and every UI surface
• PaperGraph MCP — Evidence-first math-paper reading maps for AI agents
• Cloudflare MCP Servers — Apache-2.0 official domain-specific Cloudflare MCP server suite
• treg — Metered tool catalog and team vault for agent integrations
• Equibles — Self-hosted financial-data MCP — SEC, 13F, FRED, prices for agents
• ContextForge — Apache MCP+A2A+REST/gRPC→MCP gateway with governance + OTel
• MCP Registry — Canonical protocol-org community MCP server registry
• emcee — MIT turn any OpenAPI into an MCP server for Claude and friends
• Klavis — Apache MCP integrations + Strata multi-tool server (hosted or self-host)
• StarNet — MIT local-first pixel-art desktop station for real agent crews
• FrontMCP — Apache-2.0 TypeScript-first MCP server framework (decorators, DI, OAuth)
• Desktop Commander MCP — MIT MCP for terminal, files, and processes on your desktop host
• Mobile MCP — Apache-2.0 native iOS+Android a11y-tree MCP (sim/emu/real)
• MetaMCP — MIT self-host MCP aggregator + middleware + inspector (one endpoint)
• Coding Tools MCP — Apache-2.0 model-neutral 18-tool coding runtime over MCP
• Gemini Notebook MCP CLI — MIT CLI+MCP for Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) — uv/PyPI free path
• DBX — Apache-2.0 agent-facing multi-engine DB client — MCP + CLI + Docker
• Agent Toolkit for AWS — Apache-2.0 Agents/MCP toolkit — plugins, skills, AWS CLI MCP proxy
• GitMCP — Apache remote MCP — any GitHub repo as live docs for agents
• Framelink Figma MCP — MIT Figma-layout MCP for coding agents — npm figma-developer-mcp
• Mobile Build MCP — MIT Sentry MCP+CLI for iOS/macOS agent builds — npm mobilebuildmcp
• Apify MCP Server — MIT Apify Store MCP — agents scrape via thousands of Actors
• geo-score — MIT free AIV readiness score + MCP — cite-ability without a paywall
• Qanat — MIT MCP for quant factor processing and backtesting
• REA — MIT MCP server for agent-driven reverse engineering — binaries, Electron apps, .NET, websites
• ToolHive — Apache-2.0 MCP server runner + gateway — each server in its own container
• Grafana MCP server — Apache-2.0 MCP server from Grafana Labs for dashboards, datasources, alerts and incidents
• MCP Toolbox for Databases — Apache-2.0 Google MCP server for databases
• AWS MCP Servers — Apache-2.0 AWS Labs MCP servers for AWS services
• Microsoft MCP — MIT official Microsoft MCP servers, led by Azure
• Firecrawl MCP Server — MIT official MCP server for Firecrawl scraping
• Supabase MCP Server — Apache-2.0 official MCP server for Supabase
• MongoDB MCP Server — Apache-2.0 official MCP server for MongoDB
• Stripe AI — MIT official Stripe toolkit and MCP server for agents
• Exa MCP Server — MIT official MCP server for Exa web search
• MCP Python SDK — MIT official Python SDK for MCP servers and clients
• MCP for Unity — MIT MCP server that lets AI assistants drive the Unity Editor
• mcp-agent — Apache-2.0 MCP-as-runtime + durable Temporal workflows (LastMile)
• Smithery — Freemium MCP registry, gateway, and hosting marketplace