MCP Gateway
Secure Access to MCP Servers
A centralized gateway that handles authentication, rate limiting, analytics, and billing for MCP servers — so you can focus on building AI agents.
What is an MCP Gateway?
An MCP gateway is a reverse proxy and management layer for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. It sits between AI clients and MCP servers, providing centralized security, routing, observability, and lifecycle management.
Without a gateway, each MCP server needs its own authentication, rate limiting, logging, and billing — leading to fragmented, hard-to-secure deployments. A gateway unifies these concerns under a single control plane.
Some MCP platforms, like AgentHotspot, aim to provide gateway capabilities for hosted connectors — helping developers get to production without managing complex infrastructure themselves.
How an MCP Gateway Works
┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ AI Client │ │ MCP Gateway │ │ MCP Server │
│ (Claude, │────▶│ ✓ Authentication │────▶│ (Your tool) │
│ Cursor, │ │ ✓ Rate Limiting │ │ │
│ Custom) │◀────│ ✓ Analytics │◀────│ │
│ │ │ ✓ Billing │ │ │
└─────────────┘ │ ✓ Tool Routing │ └─────────────┘
└──────────────────────┘Gateway Features
Authentication & Authorization
API key and token-based auth out of the box. RBAC support for teams. No need to implement your own auth layer.
Low-Latency Routing
Edge networks can route requests to the nearest server, minimizing latency on tool invocations.
Rate Limiting & Protection
Configurable rate limits per API key, per tool, and per connector. Built-in DDoS protection and abuse detection.
Analytics & Observability
Real-time dashboards showing usage, latency, errors, and credit consumption. Exportable logs for audit trails.
Built-in Billing
Gateways can offer credit-based billing with per-tool pricing and automatic usage tracking, simplifying monetization for server authors.
MCP Router
Intelligent tool routing that sends only relevant tool descriptions to your agent. Saves tokens and improves response quality.
For MCP Server Authors
An MCP gateway can simplify the path to production for server authors by centralizing common infrastructure concerns:
- ✓Managed hosting — Run your MCP server without managing infrastructure yourself
- ✓Authentication — API key and token management handled at the gateway level
- ✓Usage analytics — Understand how your tools are being used and by whom
- ✓Billing integration — Monetize your tools with usage-based pricing
- ✓Low-latency routing — Serve requests from locations close to your users
For AI Agent Builders
With an MCP gateway, connecting your agent to a hosted server is typically straightforward — often just a URL and an API key:
# Connect to a hosted MCP server via a gateway GATEWAY_URL=https://gateway.example.com/your-connector-slug API_KEY=your-api-key # The gateway handles auth, rate limiting, and routing.
Related Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an MCP gateway?▼
Why do I need an MCP gateway?▼
How is an MCP gateway different from an API gateway?▼
How does a managed MCP gateway work?▼
Are there open-source MCP gateways?▼
Get Started with the MCP Gateway
Learn more about MCP gateways, explore connectors, or read the blog for tutorials and guides.