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AgentoolRank

Posted on Originally published at agentoolrank.com

Where to list an MCP server or AI agent tool: free vs paid (checked Oct 2026)

#mcp #ai #opensource #showdev

Disclosure: I build AgentoolRank, one of the directories in the table below. Prices and review times were checked on each site's submit page on 2026-10-01; they change, so check the links before you decide. The up-to-date version of this table lives at agentoolrank.com/where-to-list, which now also has a filterable list of 101 general directories our products went through (free options, badge or backlink conditions, login and captcha).

This week I shipped a public MCP server (https://agentoolrank.com/api/mcp, which can search 593 open-source agent tools, pull GitHub stats and alternatives) and went through the places an MCP or agent-tool builder would reasonably list it. I published to the MCP Registry, submitted to mcpservers.org and PeerPush's free queue, and checked the submit pages of the rest. Here's what each asks for and what's free.

The short version

  • Almost everything has a free route if you can wait. Paid tiers mostly buy speed, placement or a dofollow link.
  • For an MCP server, publish to the official MCP Registry first. It's free, it's immediate, and other directories read from it.
  • mcpservers.org is free (up to 2 weeks). mcp.so's web form is paid ($39); there's a free GitHub-issue route.

The table

Directory Free option Paid options Review time
Official MCP Registry Yes, via mcp-publisher CLI None Immediate after domain/GitHub verification
mcpservers.org Yes $39 (≤24h, badge, dofollow) Free: up to 2 weeks
mcp.so Not on the web form (GitHub issue route) $39 one-time Paid: instant
PeerPush Yes, free queue (we were quoted ~70 days) $39 · $89 · $229 Paid: instant
AI Agents List Eligibility check only $29 lifetime · $49 launch boost 48h / 24h
AgentoolRank (mine) Yes, queued review $9 · $19 · $49 Free: queue order

Publishing to the official MCP Registry (the one worth doing first)

This took about 10 minutes. If you own a domain, DNS verification lets you use a com.yourdomain/... name instead of io.github.you/...:

  1. Add a server.json describing your server (name, description, version, and a remotes entry with your Streamable HTTP URL).
  2. Generate an Ed25519 key, put the public key in a TXT record on your domain (v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=...).
  3. mcp-publisher login dns --domain yourdomain.com --private-key <hex> then mcp-publisher publish.

Two things that tripped me up:

  • The login token expires quickly. If publish fails with an auth error a while after logging in, just run login again.
  • The name in server.json must match the namespace you verified (com.agentoolrank/... for agentoolrank.com).

What I'd do again

  1. MCP Registry → 2. mcpservers.org (free) → 3. one general directory where builders browse (PeerPush's free queue) → 4. stop, and spend the rest of the time on content people actually search for.

Paying to jump queues only made sense to me if launch timing mattered. For a side project, the free queues were fine.

If you've found another MCP or agent-tool directory that's worth the time, I'd like to hear about it. I'll add it to the live table after checking its submit page.

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