Plug and Ship vs Smithery
Smithery is mainly a connection platform: agents reach MCP servers through Smithery, and it handles OAuth, credentials and sessions. Plug and Ship is a directory and launch board for open-source MCP servers, agent skills and plugins that you install yourself. They overlap on discovery and differ on almost everything else.
Plug and Ship publishes this page. Every claim about Smithery links to Smithery's own site, listed under Sources. MCP here means the Model Context Protocol, the open standard AI agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and Codex use to call outside tools.
Side by side
| Plug and Ship | Smithery | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A free directory and daily launch board for MCP servers, agent skills and plugins for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and other coding agents. | A platform that connects agents to MCP servers and services, with managed auth and credentials. It also has MCP and skills catalogs. [1] |
| Catalog | about 22,900 open-source tools with a public GitHub repo, ranked with live GitHub data. | Says it connects agents to "thousands of tools and services" and shows a usage count on each listing. [1][4] |
| Kinds of tools | MCP servers, agent skills (SKILL.md) and coding-agent plugins, side by side. | MCP servers and agent skills. [1][4] |
| Hosting and auth | None. Listings link to the repo and show the install line or a one-click Add to Cursor button. | Smithery Gateway proxies to your server and handles OAuth flows, credential injection and retries. A CLI adds and calls tools (npx smithery mcp add). [1][3] |
| Publishing | Free. Submit a public GitHub repo and it joins the launch queue. Fast-track ($19 once) only lets you pick the day. | Publish a public HTTPS URL (Streamable HTTP transport) or a prebuilt MCPB bundle for local servers. Smithery scans the server for its tools. The publish docs mention no listing fee. [3] |
| Price for users | Free to browse, search and use the API and MCP endpoint. | Hobby plan free (50K RPCs). Pay as you go is $10 a month with 100K RPCs, then $0.10 per 1K. A Custom plan adds an uptime SLA and custom rate limits. [2] |
| Search | Plain-language intent search. Each result says why it matched (name, description, README, filters). | Browsable MCP and skills catalogs. Each listing shows a usage count. [1][4] |
| For agents | Remote MCP endpoint at /mcp with a search_tools tool, plus a read-only JSON API. No key. | The Smithery CLI and a CLI skill let an agent find, connect and call tools. [1][4] |
Where Smithery is stronger
- Smithery runs the connection. An agent reaches a remote tool through Smithery with OAuth and stored credentials handled for it and skips local setup, which Plug and Ship does not offer. [1]
- Each listing shows how many times it was used. [1]
- Publishers get observability: Smithery shows how their tools are used. [1]
Where Plug and Ship differs
- Listing is free and every launch gets a day on the launch board, the ticker and a permanent page with a README badge. [5]
- Plugins for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex are listed next to MCP servers and skills.
- Search explains why each tool matched, and trending is stars gained over 7 days from our own daily snapshots. [6]
- You need no account to browse, search or call the MCP endpoint. [6]
Which one to use
Pick Smithery when you want your agent to call tools through a managed gateway with auth handled for you, or when you publish a remote server and want usage analytics.
Pick Plug and Ship when you want to find open-source tools to install yourself, compare MCP servers with skills and plugins, or give a new tool a launch day. You can also list on both.
FAQ
- Is Plug and Ship a Smithery alternative?
- For discovery, yes: both help you find MCP servers and skills. Smithery also proxies the connection and handles auth, which Plug and Ship does not do. If you need that part, Smithery or Glama fit better.
- Can I list the same MCP server on Smithery and Plug and Ship?
- Yes. Smithery publishes from a public HTTPS URL or an MCPB bundle, and Plug and Ship lists from a public GitHub repo.
- Does Smithery charge to publish a server?
- Smithery's publish docs describe the steps and mention no fee. Its pricing page charges for connection usage (RPCs), with a free Hobby plan.
Sources
Checked on October 17, 2026. Prices and numbers on other sites change; follow the links for the current version.
- Smithery home page https://smithery.ai/
- Smithery pricing https://smithery.ai/pricing
- Smithery docs: Publish https://smithery.ai/docs/build/publish
- Smithery skills https://smithery.ai/skills
- Plug and Ship: submit a tool https://plugandship.dev/submit
- Plug and Ship developer docs (MCP endpoint, API, search ranking) https://plugandship.dev/developers