Smithery MCP alternative: Smithery vs AIPx

Smithery is a server discovery, publishing and hosting platform in the MCP ecosystem. AIPx is a hosted gateway for a developer’s connected accounts, with tool access scoped to individual agents. Choose Smithery when your immediate task is finding or distributing a server; choose an account gateway when your task is controlling agent access to supported services.

Smithery joined Arcade according to the official announcement dated August 5, 2026. This comparison preserves the name people search for while reflecting the current organization. Official sources were checked on October 14, 2026.

Smithery vs AIPx: feature table

Decision	Smithery	AIPx
Main job	MCP server discovery, publishing and hosting ecosystem	Account access gateway for personal agents
Current context	Joined Arcade in August 2026	Independent hosted developer product
Public registry	Server discovery and publication	Supported integrations rather than public registry publishing
Hosting	Review current hosting offerings and terms	Does not deploy arbitrary server code
Connected accounts	Depends on server and service configuration	Multiple supported accounts with separate policies
Tool policy	Verify the chosen server’s access controls	Allow, Confirm or Hide per tool, account and agent
Human approval	Check host and server behavior	Client-dependent Confirm hint on selected tools
Audit	Verify records for the chosen hosting or execution path	Agent, account, tool, parameters, result and time
Custom services	Publishing/hosting ecosystem	Compatible remote MCP connections
Price basis	Current platform terms require checking	Free or $3/month Pro

The Arcade announcement is important context for evaluating current offerings. An old tutorial or cached plan table may describe an earlier business arrangement. Confirm the actual product path you intend to use rather than assuming all registry, hosting and tool execution features share the same terms.

A registry listing and an account grant also have different meanings. Finding a server shows that someone published an interface. Authorizing it lets that interface reach data or perform operations. The second step requires reviewing the server’s credentials, action schemas and runtime location even if the discovery experience is convenient.

Smithery pricing compared

The checked pricing page did not expose a usable current numerical plan table in the accessible content. The acquisition announcement invites free sign-up. That supports saying you can explore the platform, but it does not establish that every hosting or execution offering is free.

We do not reproduce older dollar tiers here. Before budgeting, check current hosting limits, execution terms, server publication requirements and the relevant Arcade product relationship. A pricing figure for a historical offering can be more misleading than an explicit request to verify current terms.

AIPx Free includes three connected accounts and one agent. Pro costs $3 per month for unlimited connected accounts and agents, with Pro integrations. AIPx pricing excludes model costs and upstream service subscriptions.

Avoid comparing a publishing platform’s price directly with a personal gateway unless both would do your exact job. A developer distributing an open-source server cares about installation, discoverability and hosting. A developer connecting two GitHub accounts to a coding assistant cares about account selection and access policy. Their subscription requirements may have little overlap.

Include the costs outside the platform. A server can require paid upstream APIs, a model client subscription or infrastructure for an associated database. Free registry access does not imply free operation of the integration. Record those dependencies before turning a “free” label into a projected total.

When Smithery is the better choice

Choose it for discovery and publication. If you are making a server available to other developers, a registry ecosystem can help users find it and understand how to connect. Publishing remains a software-maintenance task: documentation, versioning and credential instructions should stay accurate after the initial listing.

Its hosting ecosystem may also suit the project, subject to current terms. Hosting is a useful choice when you need the actual server process to run and do not want to own all infrastructure. It does not remove your responsibility for validation, upstream account permissions and safe tool design.

The Arcade relationship can be relevant to your wider integration architecture. Follow official information for current capabilities rather than assuming the acquisition automatically changes the behavior of every existing server. Compatibility is a property of a specific implementation and client path.

AIPx fits the developer whose required services are in its integration catalog and who wants account access rules shared across several configured agents. A researcher can have reads on one account, while a coding assistant has a different set of tools on another. The policy unit is tool × account × agent.

AIPx is not a general public registry or a code hosting service. Connecting a compatible remote MCP endpoint requires that the server already exists and is hosted elsewhere. It also adds a managed intermediary, so direct access to a trustworthy official server can be simpler when no gateway policy is needed.

What to inspect in a server listing

Read the repository and documentation linked by the listing. Determine whether the server runs locally or remotely and whether its release is tied to a particular SDK major version. A working configuration copied from an older tutorial may use a different transport or protocol revision than your current client.

Review installation commands before executing them. A local server is code running with the permissions you give its process. Do not treat a package name, directory rank or installation count as proof that broad filesystem access is appropriate.

Inspect what data each tool returns. A seemingly read-only lookup can reveal confidential content to the model provider or host. Write restrictions reduce some risks, but they do not answer where allowed read results travel or how they are retained.

For a remote server, test with a limited account and narrow scopes. Confirm the endpoint’s authorization path and account identity. If your setup adds a gateway, make sure the host cannot also reach a less restricted direct endpoint with the same credentials.

When publishing your own server, make unsupported assumptions explicit. Document required transport, authentication, upstream scopes and destructive operations. Clear setup information reduces the chance that users turn a development default into their production deployment.

Other Smithery alternatives

Glama combines a public server directory with hosting and an AI product. Its server instance plans and free open-source offering are relevant when discovery and runtime hosting are the main jobs.

MCPJungle fits a private self-hosted registry and proxy. You trade managed discovery infrastructure for control and operational responsibility inside your environment.

Obot fits organizational server access, identity integration and governance. Evaluate its current virtual MCP approach for combining services under company policy.

Composio fits application integration toolkits and connected-account authentication. It addresses developer product integration rather than simply publishing a server listing.

Pipedream fits broad managed app actions and embedded end-user connections. Its personal-use MCP offering can also meet smaller integration requirements.

Read MCP gateway for the access layer. Discovery should help you locate a candidate; deployment and permission review should determine whether that candidate belongs in your agent’s actual tool path.

Further reading

zapier alternative.

AIPx Allow and Confirm are execution hints. Confirm advertises approval intent in tool metadata, and whether a call is reviewed depends on the client. Hide is enforced server-side and removes the tool from the agent surface; do not treat Confirm as a universal gateway approval gate. Test the actual client behavior before relying on review.