Smithery alternative
A Smithery Alternative for Teams That Want a Gateway Run for Them
Smithery is a registry of public MCP servers with hosting, a publishing flow, and a Connect API that handles OAuth and stores credentials for the apps you build. It is aimed at developers wiring agents into their own products. Managed MCP is aimed at a team with its own connectors and its own people: one hosted endpoint, access granted per person and per tool, and nothing for you to deploy.
What makes it different
- One endpoint for all your connectors
- Access set per person and per tool
- Credentials stay on the server
- Nothing for you to host or patch
- Revoke a person in one action
- Priced per person, connectors unlimited
Cascadia vs Smithery at a Glance
Three Questions That Decide It
Are you building an app that calls MCP servers?
Who Decides Access?
Do You Publish Servers for Others?
Side by Side
| Smithery | Cascadia | |
|---|---|---|
| Public registry | A catalog of public MCP servers (October 2026) | ×No public registry |
| Credential storage | Encrypted and write-only (October 2026) | Kept on the gateway |
| Access control | Scoped service tokens with policies (October 2026) | Per person, per tool grants |
| Who writes the integration | –Developers, using REST and SDKs (October 2026) | Nothing to code, one address |
| Hosting your own servers | –Bring your own hosting, or a local bundle (October 2026) | We host and run the gateway |
| Removing a person | –Token lifetime and policy decide (October 2026) | One action in one place |
| Ownership | –Acquired by Arcade, August 5, 2026 (October 2026) | Independent, no registry to promote |
| Pricing | –No prices on the pages we read (October 2026) | Per person, connectors unlimited |
Public Registry
Credential Storage
Access Control
Who Writes the Integration
Hosting Your Own Servers
Removing a Person
Ownership
Pricing
Inside the Monthly Management Fee
Smithery is built for developers who write code against its API. Our fee covers operating the gateway so that your team does not. Connectors and assistants are unlimited, and the price follows the number of people.
- A managed gateway hosted and run by our team
- Unlimited connectors attached once, centrally
- Local and remote providers in one tool list
- Per person, per tool access grants
- Token authenticated connectors
- Credentials stored server side
- Named client identity for each connection
- Live connection reporting
- Changes to access without reconnecting
- Removing access in one place
What Changes When We Run the Gateway
A registry helps you find servers. A gateway decides who may reach them.
Access Is the Product, Not an SDK Option
Smithery Connect lets a developer mint scoped service tokens with namespaces, operations, and a time to live. That is powerful and it is code you write. Here the same decision is a list of people and ticked tools.
No Code Between Your Team and the Tools
Smithery documents REST calls, connection IDs, and typed SDKs that are in preview. Your assistant users never see any of that when they point at one address.
A Neutral Operator for Your Own Connectors
Arcade announced it acquired Smithery on August 5, 2026, and the post says nothing about what changes for existing users. Our service is not tied to a registry owner.
Fair About Where Smithery Leads
If you want a public catalog to browse, or you publish servers for others to install, Smithery is the better home. We do not run a public registry.
Who Should Read This Comparison
Teams who built on Smithery Connect and want less code
If someone on staff wrote the token minting and the namespace logic, a managed gateway removes that service from your maintenance list.
Agencies Handing Client Tools to Different People
One person works on one client’s systems and not another’s. Per person, per tool grants express that without separate namespaces for each case.
Companies Unsure What Arcade Owning Smithery Means
The acquisition post gives no pricing changes or migration notes. If you want a vendor with no registry to promote, a managed gateway is simple to evaluate.
Choose Smithery if
- You are building an agent product on top of MCP
- You publish or discover public servers
- You have developers to maintain the integration
Choose Cascadia if
- You want your people to reach approved tools
- You answer for who can reach which system
- You want nothing to host, patch, or renew
How a Move from Smithery Runs
- 1
List What Is Attached Today
We read which servers your people use, which are Smithery hosted, and which are your own. Each gets a keep, move, or retire note.
- 2
Attach Providers to the Gateway
Servers you host stay where they are and are attached by address. Credentials go onto the gateway once, instead of living in each person’s setup.
- 3
Grant People Their Tools
You choose, tool by tool, who sees what. A support person and a finance person can use the same address and see different lists.
- 4
Switch Clients and Retire the Old Entries
Each person adds one entry pointing at the gateway and removes the old ones. We confirm with the live connection report that tools are visible.
How Smithery Works
Smithery Connect, Hosting, and Ownership
Every fact below was read from Smithery’s documentation and from Arcade’s announcement in October 2026. Smithery’s own pages showed no prices, so none are quoted.
Taken from Smithery Connect docs and Smithery publishing docs and Arcade announcement. Checked October 2026.
What Clients Say About Working with Cascadia
“I’ve always dreaded website management, but Cascadia has done an incredible job with my WordPress site, making it one less thing for me to worry about.”
“I’ve worked with Cascadia for several years now. They are always ready to help in any way I ask and can implement my ideas with ease. A company that values their clients!”
“Cascadia has been great to work with! We recently needed some updates, and Cascadia was quick to get them completed! We highly recommend Cascadia Web Services.”
“Cascadia is very responsive and we’re happy with them as our primary IT vendor.”
“They do great work, been using for years. Prompt responses to requests.”
Weighing Smithery Against a Managed Gateway?
Talk to us about your setupAsk us
Smithery Alternative Questions
What Smithery Connect does, what it leaves to you, and where a managed gateway fits.
See MCP RouterStill have a question?
What is Smithery?
Smithery describes itself as a way to connect AI agents to a catalog of external tools, and to publish your own servers for others. It works through the Model Context Protocol. Examples on its docs include web search, library docs, and a remote browser (October 2026).
What does Smithery Connect do?
It provides a REST interface for connecting to MCP servers, handling the protocol, OAuth flows, and credential storage. A connection is a long lived session with its own ID and write only credentials. Namespaces group connections, usually per app or environment (October 2026).
How does Smithery scope access?
A service token is minted with a policy listing namespaces, resources, operations such as read and execute, metadata filters like a user ID, and a time to live. An API key is backend only and grants full namespace access (October 2026).
Does Smithery have a single endpoint like a gateway?
Yes. A namespace endpoint exposes all of its connections through one MCP address, with tool names prefixed by their connection ID. It is meant for developers building apps, rather than for staff pointing an assistant at one address (October 2026).
How do I publish a server on Smithery?
Two modes. URL mode means you host the server and Smithery proxies to your HTTPS endpoint. Local mode means you upload a .mcpb bundle that clients download and run. URL servers are scanned for tools, prompts, and resources (October 2026).
What did the Arcade acquisition change?
Arcade.dev announced on August 5, 2026 that it acquired Smithery and that a co-founder is joining. The post gives no pricing changes, migration steps, or notes for existing users, so ask Smithery directly if you depend on it (October 2026).
What does Smithery cost?
The documentation pages we read state no prices, quotas, or rate limits, and the pricing page shown to us carried only an announcement banner. We will not guess. Ask Smithery for current terms before comparing totals (October 2026).
When should we stay on Smithery?
When you are building an agent product, need a public catalog, or publish servers for others. Its typed SDKs and scoped tokens suit developers. A managed gateway would add a layer you do not need.
How is Managed MCP different?
It is a hosted gateway for a team rather than a toolkit for developers. You attach connectors once, grant people tools through a screen, and each person adds one entry to their assistant. We host and run it, so no server of yours is in the path.
How is billing handled for Managed MCP?
You pay per person, per month, for the people who actually use it. Connectors and assistants are unlimited, so adding another tool never changes the bill. Adding a person does.
Can we keep servers we host ourselves?
Yes. Connectors running inside your own instance and ones reachable over HTTPS appear in the same tool list. You attach them by address, and credentials move onto the gateway once.
How are credentials handled on your gateway?
They stay server side. Keys are not copied into each person’s assistant configuration, so rotating one is a single edit. Nobody holds a key they could leak, which makes a leaver simpler to handle.
Can we see what is connected?
Yes. Ask the gateway and it reports the client identity it sees, every active integration with its address, and the total number of tools exposed to you. It is the quickest check after attaching a provider.
What do we lose by leaving Smithery?
A public registry to browse, a publishing path, and typed SDKs for building your own apps against MCP servers. If you use those, keep Smithery for them and put your internal connectors behind a gateway.
How long does setup take?
There is no infrastructure to provision first, so your first provider can go on right away. The longest part is deciding who should reach what, and that is ticking boxes once providers are attached.