Arcade alternatives compared for MCP access in 2026

If you already use Codex, Claude or another MCP client, compare how each option connects your team’s tools and handles authorization. These Arcade alternatives range from managed access to full tool-execution platforms.

By the Toolstile team. Reviewed October 30, 2026.

We make Toolstile, one of the products listed here, and compared each option on the same criteria (where it runs, how each AI app gets access, how accounts and sign-in work, what gets logged and what it costs) using public documentation and pricing rather than hands-on testing of every product. How we reviewed

Quick comparison

7 alternatives to Arcade. Toolstile is listed first because we make it. The list is not a ranking. Starting prices link to the vendor page they came from.

Alternatives to Arcade: type and starting price
Product	Starting price	Review
ToolstileManaged remote MCP accessOur product	Free; paid from $29/workspace/monthChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of Toolstile
ComposioManaged MCP gateway and integration platform	Hobby free; Pro $29/month plus usageChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of Composio
Mintive (formerly MintMCP)Enterprise MCP and agent governance	Custom quoteChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of Mintive (formerly MintMCP)
RunlayerEnterprise AI control plane	Contact vendor for a quoteChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of Runlayer
MCP ManagerManaged MCP security gateway	From $135/month; seven-day trialChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of MCP Manager
ObotMCP hosting and AI control plane	Cloud price not published; 14-day trialChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of Obot
TrueFoundryUnified LLM and MCP platform	Developer free; Pro $25/user/monthChecked Oct 30, 2026	Details of TrueFoundry

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

On this page

How we evaluated

The comparison below covers what a team leaving Arcade has to decide: hosting, per-agent access, accounts and sign-in, logging, cost and the work left with you. Facts come from Arcade's public documentation and pricing on the dates under sources. We ran no benchmarks and gave no scores.

Toolstile vs Arcade

Arcade combines user authorization, hosted and custom tools, MCP federation and contextual access hooks. Its runtime is relevant when authentication is part of the application being built.

Toolstile compared with Arcade
Compare	Toolstile	Arcade	Sources
Primary job	Authorize existing MCP clients and share remote upstream accounts.	Arcade supplies an actions runtime with authorization, tools and governance.	1 2
Charging units	Free 5,000 operations/month; Starter $29/workspace/month for 50,000.	Free lists 2,000 tool calls/month; Team is a $25/month platform fee plus $0.01 per tool call.	3 4
Tool supply	Bring a remote MCP server that exposes the capabilities you need.	Federates Arcade-hosted, custom and third-party MCP servers, with a framework for custom Python tools.	5 2
User and upstream identity	Client authorization is workspace-scoped; approved accounts use a default or member preference.	Arcade describes per-action authorization combining user and agent permissions, with managed token lifecycle.	1 5 2
Policy extensibility	Capability-name and resource-URI rules; no custom argument-inspection hooks.	Contextual access uses pre- and post-tool-call hooks for policy enforcement.	6 7
Deployment and enterprise terms	Managed service connecting public HTTPS upstreams; no private-network hosting.	Enterprise pricing offers cloud, VPC and air-gapped deployment, with SSO, RBAC, logs and private registry.	5 4

Where Arcade is strong

Federate Arcade-hosted, custom and third-party MCP tools.
User-scoped authorization and managed token lifecycle.
Framework for custom Python tools and contextual access hooks.

What to weigh with Arcade

Team usage is billed per tool call on top of the platform fee.
Pricing lists SSO, RBAC, audit logs and private registry access under Enterprise.
Toolstile-style team account contribution is a different workflow from embedded end-user auth.

Arcade pricing: Free; Team $25/month plus usageFree lists 2,000 tool calls per month with no credit card. Team charges a $25 monthly platform fee plus $0.01 per tool call. Enterprise uses custom annual bundles and deployment terms.Checked Oct 30, 2026
Website: arcade.dev

Sources4 2 8 7

Choose Arcade or Toolstile?

Stay with Arcade if

You are building an agent product whose end users authorize their own accounts. 2
You want to write custom Python tools or run pre- and post-call policy hooks. 2 7
VPC or air-gapped deployment is on the requirements list. 4

Choose Toolstile if

Your people already use MCP clients such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. 6
You prefer a fixed workspace allowance over per-call billing. 3 4
Shared team accounts need admin approval and an explicit default. 1

Where Toolstile fits

Managed remote MCP accessOur product

Give existing clients controlled access to team accounts

For an Arcade buyer who mainly needs to share remote MCP tools, Toolstile keeps account approval separate from client permission. You can approve an account once and still require explicit capability access for every client authorization.

toolstile.com/app/acme/accessExample data

Access

What each agent may use on each server

Select a cell to edit access. Explicit blocks always win.

Agent	GitHub	Linear	Postgres
CodexBuild Mac mini	Full accessWith explicit blocks	No access	Selected accessWith explicit blocks
Claude DesktopMara's MacBook	Selected access	Selected access	No access
Claude CodeCI runner	Selected access	No access	No access

Configure accessCodex on GitHub

Full accessAll capabilities are allowed except explicit blocks, including future additions.

Explicitly blocked toolsdelete_repository

Illustration of Toolstile's Access page with example AI apps and servers.

Choose a preferred upstream account instead of silently changing identity.
Grant tools, resources and prompts independently.
Pay for a workspace allowance without a separate auth-event meter.

Best for: Teams sharing remote MCP tools across their existing AI apps.
Good fit: People already have MCP clients and the required tools are available from public HTTPS servers.
Trade-off: Toolstile is not an embedded user-authorization SDK, custom-tool framework or replacement for Arcade’s execution runtime.
Pricing: Free; paid from $29/workspace/monthNo per-seat fee. Compare plans

Sources3 5 6 1

Start free Compare Toolstile plans

Switching from Arcade to Toolstile

Identify whether each workflow calls Arcade’s runtime API, a custom Python tool or an MCP gateway; those are different migration surfaces.
Map only the MCP workflows to original public HTTPS server endpoints. Keep custom tools hosted elsewhere or replace them before moving access.
Reauthorize upstream accounts in Toolstile, approve shared contributions and create separate client authorizations for workflows with different privileges.
Update pilot clients, compare tool names and inputs, and verify an allowed call, a denied call and account revocation before removing Arcade access.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep using my existing AI apps with Toolstile?

Use an app that supports Toolstile’s remote MCP authorization flow. Each app signs in to a workspace, then receives the capabilities you grant it. An existing public HTTPS server can stay on its current hosting; confirm its authentication and tool names during the pilot.

Sources6 5

Does Toolstile replace Arcade’s user authorization API?

No. Toolstile authorizes clients to workspaces and uses selected upstream MCP accounts. Applications that need embedded end-user authorization should evaluate a runtime or integration platform for that part.

Sources2 5 1

How do Arcade and Toolstile meter usage?

Arcade Team adds $0.01 per tool call to a $25 platform fee. Toolstile includes a fixed number of forwarded operations per workspace plan and stops at the allowance instead of billing overage. Estimate both from the actual workflow before comparing a monthly bill.

Sources4 3

Can I enforce a policy based on a tool’s input fields?

Arcade documents contextual hooks. Toolstile grants or blocks named capabilities and resource URIs, without evaluating argument values. Keep an upstream restriction or another enforcement layer for input-sensitive rules.

Sources7 6

Is Toolstile suitable for an air-gapped deployment?

The managed service connects to public HTTPS MCP servers and rejects private-network destinations. Arcade’s Enterprise plan lists air-gapped options, making that a materially different buying path.

Sources5 4

Other Arcade alternatives

The quick comparison above summarizes each one from its vendor's public pages. Each linked comparison has the full review.

Composio

Managed MCP gateway and integration platform

Starting price: Hobby free; Pro $29/month plus usageChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: composio.dev
Full review: Composio alternatives compared

Mintive (formerly MintMCP)

Enterprise MCP and agent governance

Starting price: Custom quoteChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: mintive.com
Full review: Mintive (formerly MintMCP) alternatives compared

Runlayer

Enterprise AI control plane

Starting price: Contact vendor for a quoteChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: runlayer.com
Full review: Runlayer alternatives compared

MCP Manager

Managed MCP security gateway

Starting price: From $135/month; seven-day trialChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: mcpmanager.ai
Full review: MCP Manager alternatives compared

Obot

MCP hosting and AI control plane

Starting price: Cloud price not published; 14-day trialChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: obot.ai
Full review: Obot alternatives compared

TrueFoundry

Unified LLM and MCP platform

Starting price: Developer free; Pro $25/user/monthChecked Oct 30, 2026
Website: truefoundry.com
Full review: TrueFoundry alternatives compared

Our recommendation

Choose Toolstile when the required tools already have remote endpoints and the problem is controlled team access. Compare Composio with Arcade for embedded authentication and tool execution. Retain an enterprise deployment option when private infrastructure is mandatory.

New to the category? Read what an MCP gateway does or see how to connect your AI app.

Decide which tools each AI app may use

Free; paid from $29/workspace/month. USD, monthly per workspace, no per-seat fee: Free 5,000 operations; Starter $29 for 50,000; Team $99 for 250,000; Scale $299 for 1,000,000. No paid overages: forwarding stops at the allowance. Tool calls, resource reads and prompt requests count, including upstream failures; listing tools does not. Provider and AI-client charges are separate.