MCP server cost passportsdraft data · stage 0
Catalogs show stars and installs. We show the money: which keys you need, where the free tier ends, where the traps are - and how much “presence tax” a server adds to every request on your model. Every number with a proof and a date.
18
passports
7 🔴
traps found
6
run for $0
3
affiliate programs
| Server | Key | Free tier | Paid entry | Flags | Schema tokens | $/mo · Sonnet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| filesystemmodelcontextprotocol/servers | No key needed | Unlimited, local, works offline | - | free | 3 360 | $20.2 |
| Playwrightmicrosoft/playwright-mcp | No key needed | Unlimited, local | - | free | 4 790 | $28.7 |
| fetchmodelcontextprotocol/servers | No key needed | Unlimited, local | - | free | 290 | $1.7 |
| GitHub MCPgithub/github-mcp-server | PAT or OAuth · free (~5,000 requests/hour) | Unlimited API (~5K req/h) | - | free keyheavy token tax | 14.4K → 55K | $86-330 |
| Slackcommunity | Bot token · free | Slack API is free | - | reference archived | 834 | $5.0 |
| Notionofficial | Integration token or OAuth · free | Notion API is free | - | heavy token taxaffiliate program closed | 21 937 | $131.6 |
| Firecrawlfirecrawl/firecrawl-mcp-server | FIRECRAWL_API_KEY required · free tier without a card | 1,000 pages/mo, no card | Hobby $16/mo · 5,000 pages | honest free tieraffiliate 25% → 15%heavy token taxkeyless mode = scrape only | 19 255 | $115.5 |
| Apifyofficial | API token required | $5 platform credits/mo | Starter $29/mo | affiliate 20% → 30%two-layer billing (CU + Actor price)heavy token tax | 11 736 | $70.4 |
| ElevenLabsofficial | API key required | 10K credits/mo | Starter $6/mo | affiliate 22% (12 mo)free tier: no commercial license | - | - |
| Tavilyofficial | API key required | 1,000 credits/mo | $8 per 1K credits (PAYG) | 1 985 | $11.9 | |
| Exaofficial | API key required | 20K or 1K credits/mo - the number floats | $7 per 1K searches | pricing unstable | 564 | $3.4 |
| Supabaseofficial | Personal access token | 2 projects, 500 MB | Pro $25/mo | pauses after a week idlebranching → paid | 5 100 | $30.6 |
| Brave Searchofficial | API key required | ~1,000 requests/mo | $5 per 1K requests | card required even for free | 361 | $2.2 |
| Airtablecommunity | Personal access token | 1,000 API calls/mo | Team $20/user/mo | limit burns in one session | 5 065 | $30.4 |
| E2Bofficial | API key required | $100 credits, one-time | Pro $150/mo | tier chasm $0 → $150 | 83 | $0.5 |
| Google Mapscommunity | API key + GCP project + billing | 10K calls/SKU + $300 trial | from ~$100/mo | card before the first requestopaque per-SKU rates | 706 | $4.2 |
| Replicatemcp-replicate | REPLICATE_API_TOKEN required | None - no permanent free tier | per-second GPU: T4 $0.81/h · A100 $5.04/h · H100 $5.49/h | no free tiercard requiredH100 $5.49/h | 794 | $4.8 |
| Browserbaseofficial | API key + project ID | 1 hour (demo) | Developer $20/mo | free tier = demofree alternative: Playwright | 1 282 | $7.7 |
Token overhead - PolicyLayer & community measurements · tariffs - pricing-page snapshots (2026-07-10) · $/mo - via the PriceRadar price base (Sonnet 5, 100 requests/day, API billing, no cache).
Affiliate links are marked rel=sponsored and never affect the numbers or the ordering. Data: CC BY 4.0 · machine access: /mcp-servers/api.json