Listing guide
MCP server directories: where to list your server in 2026
We published SaaSCity's own MCP server to the official registry on September 23, 2026. On October 7 we checked 16 MCP server directories and registries for their rules, prices and links, then searched each one for ours.
Founder, SaaSCity
Updated
Checked by hand. DR from Ahrefs.
- 40,528
- servers in the official MCP Registry on October 7, 2026, by our count of its API
- 375
- servers in GitHub's curated registry, the source of VS Code's @mcp gallery
- 3 of 16
- places listing our own server 14 days after we published it
- 11,657
- of the 28,130 remote servers on Glama marked unhealthy on October 7
Contents (10)
The short answer
As of October 2026, publish to the official MCP Registry first: it is free, Glama imports from it and PulseMCP says it will pull from it when submissions reopen. If your server is remote, submit it to Anthropic's Claude directory and OpenAI's plugin directory, where Claude, ChatGPT and Codex users install from. Then check that Glama lists your GitHub repo cleanly, because the biggest MCP list on GitHub and its remote-server sibling only merge entries with a Glama badge.
At a glance
Publish once, show up everywhere
The registry is a feed: Glama imports from it and PulseMCP says it will.
- Official metadata registry, in preview Free No link
This is the MCP project's own index of server metadata; its docs name Anthropic, GitHub, PulseMCP and Microsoft as backers. It stores a server.json pointing at your package or remote URL and hosts no code. As of October 2026 it is still a preview.
It is built for aggregators, which the docs expect to pull new entries about once an hour, so this is where to start: Glama imported ours, and PulseMCP says this is how it will find you. Published versions cannot be edited or deleted.
- How to get in
- Install mcp-publisher, run init, log in with GitHub or prove your domain, then publish (steps below). Start here
- The link
- It serves JSON to other catalogs, not listing pages.
- Best for
- Every public server.
- Watch out
- Packages need an ownership marker, such as mcpName in package.json, and must be published first.
Our registry entry, October 7, 2026. Glama
DR 75Index built from GitHub and the registry Free Sometimes followedGlama lists 97,393 servers by its own count on October 7, 2026, plus 28,130 remote servers it calls connectors. It crawls GitHub and grades each server on license, quality and maintenance; remote servers also get health checks.
It listed ours twice unasked: an unclaimed page from the GitHub crawl, since a glama.json file does not claim it by itself, and a connector page from the registry that tested Healthy on October 6 and scored A, 4.1 out of 5, on our tool definitions.
- How to get in
- Wait for the crawl, or use Add MCP Server with a GitHub URL; remote servers go in as connectors with an HTTPS URL.
- The link
- Repo link followed; README links to your site are ugc nofollow.
- Best for
- Open-source and remote servers.
- Watch out
- Only 6,700 Glama listings were marked claimed on October 7; claim yours to control the copy.
Our Glama page: README links are ugc nofollow. - MCP server directory Not taking submissions Link unchecked
PulseMCP lists 21,730+ servers by its own count. As of October 7, 2026, its submit page says new servers and listing changes are paused while it reworks ingestion. The page was last updated September 3, 2026, and gives no reopening date.
It tells authors to publish to the official registry and says it will pick those servers up automatically once it is back.
- How to get in
- Publish to the official registry and wait. Start here
- The link
- Cloudflare blocked our link checker.
- Best for
- Servers already in the registry.
Your server fronts a product? List the product too
SaaSCity, which we run, lists AI tools and agents next to SaaS, a different job from the MCP catalogs above. The product behind your server can get a permanent page and a building on our city map on a DR 66 domain. A free listing waits for one of 15 Monday launch slots a week and turns dofollow once our badge is on your homepage; Quick Pass ($19.99) goes live within 24 hours after a human review, no badge needed. Your agent can submit it through our MCP server at https://saascity.io/api/mcp, which creates a draft and a claim link; nothing goes live until you open it. None of this gets your server into the directories above.
Client marketplaces
Catalogs inside the apps people install from. Most are reviewed, and some queues are long.
- In-app directory of connectors and plugins No fee stated; paid Claude plan Sometimes followed
This is the catalog inside Claude, mirrored on claude.com, which showed 914 connectors and 341 plugins on October 7, 2026. As of October 2026 anyone on a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan can submit (on Team and Enterprise, an Owner by default); free accounts cannot.
A connector is a remote HTTPS server with OAuth 2.0, or no auth for public data; local servers need a plugin bundle, and MCPB desktop extensions are no longer accepted. Submissions are scanned and listed as Community connectors by default, and review time is not fixed.
- How to get in
- At claude.ai/directory/manage, choose Submit new, pick MCP connector and paste your https URL. Start here
- The link
- Followed on a Verified page; Community pages, the default for new submissions, unchecked.
- Best for
- Remote servers for products used with Claude.
- Watch out
- Money transfers and AI image, video or audio generation are refused.
Claude's marketplace, October 7, 2026. - In-app directory for ChatGPT and Codex No fee in its docs Link unchecked
OpenAI's Apps SDK docs now sit under Plugins. A plugin bundles skills, one MCP server or both, and the directory serves ChatGPT and Codex.
As of October 2026 you need a verified identity, a domain check, five positive and three negative test cases, a video walkthrough and release notes. Plugins may sell only physical goods and must not show subscription plans or promote upgrades, so our get_offers tool, which returns SaaSCity's prices, would need rethinking first.
- How to get in
- Upload a plugin ZIP at platform.openai.com/plugins, connect the server and submit for review. Start here
- The link
- It lives inside ChatGPT, which blocked our checker.
- Best for
- Remote servers with a reason to live in ChatGPT.
- Watch out
- Set readOnlyHint, destructiveHint and openWorldHint explicitly on every tool.
GitHub MCP Registry
DR 97Curated registry behind VS Code's @mcp gallery No fee stated NofollowGitHub calls it curated, and its docs present VS Code's @mcp gallery as the way to install from it. It held 375 servers on October 7, 2026, against 40,528 in the official registry.
Publishing to the official registry is not enough: GitHub's October 2025 guide says to email [email protected] afterwards. Ours was not added two weeks after publishing.
- How to get in
- Publish to the official registry, then email [email protected].
- The link
- Server pages link out with nofollow.
- Best for
- Developer tools used in VS Code.
- Watch out
- It is in public preview, with no published criteria we could find.
375 servers on October 7, 2026. - Marketplace inside an AI chat app No fee stated Dofollow
LobeHub showed 106,056 MCP servers on October 7, 2026. It crawls repos too, and crawled versions stay marked Unvalidated until the owner publishes an update.
As of October 2026 you publish with the lhm CLI: log in and connect GitHub in a browser, write an lhm.plugin.json with identifier, name and version, then run lhm plugin publish with the repo URL.
- How to get in
- Point your agent at lobehub.com/publish-mcp/skill.md, or run the CLI yourself. Start here
- The link
- Repo and README links had no rel attribute.
- Best for
- READMEs that link to the product.
- Watch out
- You need push access to the repo, and a person must finish the browser steps.
cursor.directory
DR 71Community plugin directory for Cursor No fee stated DofollowAs of October 2026, cursor.directory lists plugins that can hold rules, skills and MCP servers; its /mcp page redirects home. Cursor's docs send people here for community servers, while Cursor's own Marketplace is curated.
You sign in with GitHub or Google and paste a repo URL. MCP servers are found through a .mcp.json file, and a Cursor agent scans each plugin for safety.
- How to get in
- Add .mcp.json, sign in at cursor.directory/plugins/new and paste the repo URL. Start here
- The link
- Source link to GitHub, no rel, added by JavaScript.
- Best for
- Servers for Cursor users.
- In-app marketplace for Cline No fee stated Dofollow
Cline installs marketplace servers in one click by following your README or llms-install.md. As of October 2026 you apply with a GitHub issue: repo URL, a 400x400 PNG logo and a reason.
Its FAQ says the team aims to review within a couple of days, yet on October 7, 2026 the repo had 2,533 open issues, with 377 opened and 38 closed in the past 30 days. Our repo has the logo and llms-install.md; no SaaSCity issue is filed.
- How to get in
- Open a submission issue in cline/mcp-marketplace. Start here
- The link
- Its public page links each repo on GitHub, followed.
- Best for
- Servers an agent can install from the README.
- Catalog in Docker Hub and Docker Desktop No fee stated Sometimes followed
Entries appear on hub.docker.com/mcp and in Docker Desktop's MCP Toolkit. As of October 2026, local servers need a Dockerfile; remote ones need a server.yaml, an empty tools.json and a readme.md. The guide calls MIT or Apache 2 great and GPL not.
Approved entries go live within 24 hours, but approval is slow. Our PR #5214 has had no review since September 23. On October 7, 2026 the repo had 1,587 open pull requests, and its last ten merges, back to July 8, only updated existing entries.
- How to get in
- Fork docker/mcp-registry, run task wizard or task remote-wizard and open a pull request. Start here
- The link
- Repository button followed; description links nofollow.
- Best for
- Containerized servers.
Our Docker pull request, October 7, 2026.
MCP server directories you submit to
Web forms. Smithery is free; mcp.so and mcpservers.org sell speed and a dofollow link.
- Registry and hosted MCP gateway Free to list Dofollow
Smithery pairs a registry with a hosted gateway that handles OAuth and sessions for agents; Arcade.dev announced on August 5, 2026 that it had acquired it. Its API reported 18,942 servers on October 7.
You publish a public URL and Smithery scans it, or you serve a static card at /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json when it cannot. As of October 2026 its pricing FAQ says listing is completely free.
- How to get in
- Enter a Streamable HTTP URL at smithery.ai/new, or upload an MCPB bundle for a local server. Start here
- The link
- Homepage links carried only noopener noreferrer.
- Best for
- Remote servers wanting a free, followed link.
- Watch out
- Bot protection that blocks SmitheryBot fails the scan.
Smithery after the Arcade.dev deal. - Community MCP directory $39 one-time Sometimes followed
mcp.so is a large community directory; its submit page claims 2.2 million unique visitors over 12 months.
As of October 2026 the form, signed out, shows one route: $39 one-time to publish without review, with a verified badge, featured placement and a dofollow link.
- How to get in
- Open mcp.so/submit, paste the repo URL and pay. Start here
- The link
- Free listings nofollow ugc; a Verified and Featured one was followed.
- Best for
- A listing today with a followed link.
One paid route, October 7, 2026. MCP Market
DR 61MCP server and agent skills directory Free, or $29 one-time No linkMCP Market claims 1M+ monthly visitors and 35K+ servers. As of October 2026 its free queue averages 4 to 6 weeks with no link to your site; $29 one-time lists you within 24 hours with an Official badge and a Try Now link.
It already lists us, built from our repo and unclaimed. Its AI-written summary counts 0 GitHub stars as a key feature, and its NPM button opens a 404.
- How to get in
- Submit a repo or remote URL at mcpmarket.com/submit, or claim an existing page. Start here
- The link
- Free pages link GitHub and npm only; $29 adds a Try Now link we could not check.
- Best for
- A free extra listing.
- Watch out
- Check the copy it generates from your README.
Our MCP Market page: the NPM button leads to a 404. - Site of the wong2 awesome list Free, or $39 one-time Nofollow
mcpservers.org is the site behind wong2/awesome-mcp-servers, a GitHub list that takes no pull requests. As of October 2026 free listings are reviewed within 2 weeks; Premium is $39 one-time for review within 24 hours, an Official badge, search priority and a dofollow link it calls DR 71.
We found no Premium listing to confirm its dofollow link.
- How to get in
- Fill in the form at mcpservers.org/submit. Start here
- The link
- Free listings nofollow; Premium promises dofollow, unconfirmed.
- Best for
- A free listing with a stated review time.
Free and Premium, October 7, 2026.
Lists on GitHub
Pull requests into an awesome list README: nofollow links, but 95,902 stars on the main list. Our open-source promotion guide covers the other lists.
- Curated list on GitHub Free Nofollow
This is the best-known MCP list on GitHub, with 95,902 stars on October 7, 2026. It takes servers with a public repo that you install and run yourself.
As of October 2026 a workflow checks each pull request: the server must pass Glama's checks, and the entry needs a Glama score badge, an owner/repo name, an allowed language emoji and a GitHub link. Agents get a fast lane by ending the PR title with three robot emoji.
- How to get in
- Get onto Glama, then add one line with the badge in the right category.
- The link
- GitHub marks README links nofollow.
- Best for
- Open-source local servers.
- Curated list of remote servers on GitHub Free Nofollow
The remote-server companion to punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers had 871 stars on October 7, 2026. Entries link your homepage or docs and show the endpoint and auth type.
As of October 2026, CI checks that the endpoint answers an MCP initialize handshake and that a Glama connector badge resolves, and pull requests are not merged unless the opener has starred the repo. Our keyless server fits; we have not opened a pull request.
- How to get in
- Star the repo, then add the endpoint, badge and a description of up to 120 characters.
- The link
- Nofollow, but it links your homepage, not a repo.
- Best for
- Hosted servers anyone can sign up for.
What we did with our own server
Our MCP server audits a homepage, picks launch directories from our dataset and can submit a product to SaaSCity as a draft. It runs keyless at https://saascity.io/api/mcp over Streamable HTTP, with a stdio bridge in the MIT-licensed repo nyyhao/saascity-mcp. On September 23, 2026 we published it to the official registry as io.saascity/saascity.
A name on our own domain needs a domain check, so we host a one-line file at /.well-known/mcp-registry-auth: v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p= plus the public key. Our first description was 102 characters, over the cap of 100. What showed up where on October 7:
- Official registry: listed, one streamable-http remote and no package. Our server.json names an npm package, saascity-mcp, that npm answers with a 404.
- Glama: an unclaimed page from the GitHub crawl and a connector page imported from the registry.
- MCP Market: an unclaimed page built from our repo, with an NPM button that leads to the same 404.
- Docker: our pull request has no review after 14 days.
- Not listed: GitHub's registry, Smithery, PulseMCP, mcp.so, mcpservers.org, LobeHub, cursor.directory, Cline, both awesome lists and Claude's directory. OpenAI's directory cannot be searched from outside ChatGPT.
The lesson
Crawlers copy your files as they are. Our unpublished npm line now sits on two sites, so fix the README and server.json before you submit anywhere.
Publish to the official registry in 6 steps
These steps follow the registry's quickstart and authentication docs as of October 2026. Check server.json twice: a published version cannot be deleted.
- Choose a namespace A GitHub login means every name starts with io.github.<your-username>/ or your org. A name on your domain, such as com.example/weather, needs a DNS TXT record or an HTTP file.
- Publish the package first The registry checks ownership: mcpName in package.json for npm, an mcp-name: line in the README for PyPI or NuGet, an io.modelcontextprotocol.server.name label on Docker images. Remote-only servers skip this.
- Install mcp-publisher Run brew install mcp-publisher, or download a binary from the modelcontextprotocol/registry releases on GitHub.
- Write server.json mcp-publisher init writes a template. The required fields are name, description and version; the description stops at 100 characters and each publish needs a new version string. Add remotes, packages or both.
- Log in mcp-publisher login github runs a device-code flow. For a domain, generate an Ed25519 key pair with openssl, host v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=<public key> at /.well-known/mcp-registry-auth, then run mcp-publisher login http --domain <domain> --private-key <key>.
- Publish and check Run mcp-publisher publish, then open https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=<your name>. In CI, the docs use mcp-publisher login github-oidc in a GitHub Action.
Minimal server.json for a remote server
{
"$schema": "https://static.modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/2025-12-11/server.schema.json",
"name": "com.example/weather",
"description": "Forecasts and severe weather alerts for any city.",
"version": "1.0.0",
"remotes": [
{
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
}
]
}Get the listing to convert
Most of these sites copy your README, server.json and tool list. That copy is what an agent builder reads before installing.
- Open the README with one line on what the server does, the remote URL and installs to paste: claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url> for Claude Code and an mcpServers JSON block for Cursor, Claude Desktop and VS Code.
- Mention only packages that exist.
- Write tool descriptions for a reviewer. Glama gave ours 4 of 5 on disambiguation because three directory tools read alike. Anthropic wants a title and a read or destructive hint per tool; OpenAI wants all three hints as explicit booleans, and our 12 read-only tools leave out destructiveHint.
- Ship a square logo: Cline asks for a 400x400 PNG, and server.json takes an icons array.
- Use a permissive license. Docker's guide calls MIT or Apache 2 great and GPL not.
- Add llms-install.md when setup takes more than a URL; Cline installs from it.
- Claim what was listed for you on Glama, MCP Market and LobeHub, or the auto-written copy stays.
What these listings are worth for SEO
The domains are strong, from DR 61 for mcpmarket.com to DR 97 for github.com on Ahrefs on October 7, 2026, but most links to you carry nofollow or ugc, or point at your GitHub repo instead of your site.
Followed links to your own site turned up on Smithery, in LobeHub's rendered READMEs and on the Verified Canva page of Claude's marketplace; mcp.so and mcpservers.org sell one for $39, and AI tool catalogs such as There's An AI For That take MCP servers from $49 with a followed link, and DevHunt lists them in its weekly launches, followed on paid launches. The return is discovery: people find servers inside Claude, ChatGPT, VS Code, Cursor and Cline. Put the effort into the README and tool descriptions, and get backlinks for the product from directories built for that. Our dofollow vs nofollow guide shows how to check a listing yourself.
FAQ
- How do I submit my MCP server to the official registry?
- Install mcp-publisher, run mcp-publisher init, log in and run mcp-publisher publish. A GitHub login gives you io.github.<your-username>/ names; your own domain needs a DNS TXT record or a file at /.well-known/mcp-registry-auth. As of October 2026 publishing is free and the registry is in preview.
- Is Smithery free?
- For server authors, yes. As of October 2026 its pricing FAQ says listing is completely free; RPC calls are billed to whoever uses the servers, with 50K a month free on the Hobby plan.
- Do I need a remote server for the Claude directory?
- For an MCP connector, yes. As of October 2026 Anthropic asks for an https URL with OAuth 2.0, or no auth for public data. Local servers only get in inside a plugin bundle, and you need a paid Claude plan to submit.
- How do I get my MCP server into ChatGPT?
- Package it as a plugin and submit it at platform.openai.com/plugins. As of October 2026 OpenAI requires a verified identity, a domain check, eight test cases and a video walkthrough. For your own use, add the server as a custom connection instead.
- What are Smithery alternatives?
- Glama is closest: it lists remote servers as connectors, health-checks them and offers hosting and a gateway. mcp.so, MCP Market and mcpservers.org take a repo or URL, and LobeHub publishes from your repo. Publish to the official registry either way.
- How do I get into the VS Code MCP gallery?
- The @mcp gallery installs from GitHub's MCP Registry, which held 375 servers on October 7, 2026. GitHub's October 2025 guide says to publish to the official registry, then email [email protected]. Publishing alone did not get ours in.
- Do MCP directories give dofollow backlinks?
- Mostly no. On listings checked October 7, 2026, Glama, GitHub and free listings on mcp.so and mcpservers.org used nofollow or ugc, and several sites link only your repo. Smithery and LobeHub links were followed; mcp.so and mcpservers.org sell one for $39.
How we checked
Every fact on this page was read on the site it describes. Last checked on . Prices and rules change, so check the site before you pay.
- Official MCP Registry
- MCP Registry: about
- MCP Registry: quickstart
- MCP Registry: authentication
- MCP Registry: package types
- MCP Registry: remote servers
- MCP Registry: FAQ
- MCP Registry: versioning
- MCP Registry: moderation policy
- MCP Registry: aggregators
- MCP Registry: GitHub Actions
- MCP Registry API: server list
Show all 57 sources
- server.json schema 2025-12-11
- GitHub MCP Registry
- GitHub blog: the GitHub MCP Registry how-to
- GitHub Docs: extend Copilot Chat with MCP
- VS Code docs: MCP servers
- Glama MCP servers
- Glama MCP connectors
- Glama MCP FAQ
- Glama blog: what is glama.json
- Glama listing: saascity-mcp
- Glama connector: io.saascity/saascity
- Claude docs: publish to the directory
- Claude docs: submit a connector
- Claude docs: connector pre-submission checklist
- Claude docs: connector verification
- Claude Marketplace: connectors and plugins
- Claude Marketplace: Canva connector
- OpenAI: upload and submit your plugin
- OpenAI: plugin guidelines
- OpenAI: remote MCP server review requirements
- Smithery docs: publish
- Smithery pricing
- Arcade.dev: Smithery is now part of Arcade.dev
- PulseMCP submit page
- mcp.so submit page
- MCP Market submit page
- MCP Market listing: SaaSCity
- mcpservers.org submit page
- wong2/awesome-mcp-servers
- punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers contributing guide
- punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers Glama check workflow
- punkpeye/awesome-remote-mcp-servers contributing guide
- LobeHub MCP marketplace
- LobeHub: publish MCP skill
- cursor/community-plugins
- Cursor docs: plugins
- Cursor: marketplace security
- Cline MCP marketplace repo
- Cline MCP marketplace page
- Docker MCP registry repo
- Docker MCP registry contributing guide
- Docker MCP Catalog
- Our Docker pull request #5214
- SaaSCity MCP server repo
- npm: saascity-mcp (404)
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