This spotlight is part of our MCP company spotlights, within The MCP Guide. Building an MCP company? See SEO and GEO for MCP companies.
Arcade.dev calls itself an MCP runtime. It sits between AI agents and business apps, handles sign-in, checks permissions, and runs the tool call. Its main idea is that an agent should act as the person using it, never with broader access.
Checked against: Arcade's homepage and docs on 28 October 2026. eSEOspace did not test Arcade's products.
Key Takeaways
- Arcade says it "is the MCP runtime that handles user authentication, authorization, policy enforcement, and tool execution."
- Authorization is delegated, so "the agent acts as its user and never past its own scope," per Arcade.
- MCP gateways in Arcade bundle tools from several MCP servers into one endpoint for Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop or other clients.
- Pricing starts free with 2,000 tool calls a month; Team is $25 a month plus $0.01 per call.
- Smithery says it is now part of Arcade, and its public directory is "now powered by Arcade.dev."
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company | Arcade.dev |
| What it offers for MCP | MCP runtime, MCP gateways, prebuilt MCP servers, the arcade-mcp framework |
| Who it's for | Enterprises deploying agents and the developers building them |
| Open source? | The arcade-mcp framework is MIT licensed; Arcade Cloud is a paid service |
| Pricing | Free; Team $25/month plus usage; Enterprise custom |
| Founded / HQ | HQ South San Francisco, CA, per Arcade's site data; founding year not stated |
What Arcade offers for MCP
A runtime with delegated authorization
Arcade's homepage describes "the infrastructure layer that enables AI agents to securely connect to external tools and business systems." Authentication "runs against your IdP," which is your identity provider, such as Okta. Arcade also supports custom policy hooks that run before and after each tool call.
Arcade lists "8,000+ permission-aware tools, plus custom MCP you build or bring." Its docs give a slightly different figure: "7,500+ agent-optimized tools across 81 MCP servers." Check the catalog for the apps you need.
MCP gateways
Arcade's docs describe MCP gateways that "aggregate tools from multiple MCP servers" behind one endpoint. You pick the tools for a workflow and add the gateway to your IDE or chat client. Gateways can use outside user sources such as Auth0 or Clerk, and a Tool Recommendation option lets agents work with large tool sets without loading every definition at once.
Build your own tools
The docs say you can "create MCP servers and custom tools with the Arcade SDK." The arcade-mcp repository is MIT licensed and calls itself an "MCP Server Framework and Tool Development library." You can also register an existing MCP server and "govern its tools alongside Arcade's own."
Smithery's directory
Smithery's change notice says Smithery's connection services, API and CLI shut down on 31 October 2026. It says the smithery.ai directory stays online, "now powered by Arcade.dev," and signs off from a cofounder of "Smithery (now part of Arcade)." Arcade's own homepage did not mention this when we checked.
Who it's for
Arcade's homepage speaks to companies deploying agents: "Teams keep shipping. Security stays in control." It fits teams worried that an agent could reach more data than the person using it. Developers who want to build custom tools in Python or JavaScript are a second audience.
Pricing
Arcade's pricing page listed three plans on 28 October 2026:
| Plan | Price | Included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card needed | 2,000 tool calls a month, Arcade Cloud, community support |
| Team | $25/month plus $0.01 per tool call | Arcade Cloud, next-business-day email support |
| Enterprise | Custom | Annual call bundles, VPC or air-gapped deployment, SSO, RBAC, audit logs, private registry |
At $0.01 per call, a busy agent can add up. Estimate your monthly call volume before you pick a plan.
Security and trust
Arcade's homepage says it is "SOC 2 compliant" and offers "SSO, RBAC, and full audit logs out of the box." On the pricing page, SSO, RBAC and audit logs appear under Enterprise. Deployment options include cloud, on-prem, air-gapped and hybrid. Arcade also says its team "authored the MCP tool authorization specification"; that is the company's own claim.
User-scoped access lowers risk but does not remove it. Read our guide to MCP authentication and OAuth to see how delegated access works.
Alternatives
- Composio offers hosted MCP sessions for 1,500+ apps at a lower published per-call rate.
- Pipedream runs a hosted MCP server for each of its 3,000+ apps.
- Glama pairs a large MCP directory with hosting and a gateway.
Compare more options in our list of MCP integration platforms or see all MCP company spotlights.
Next step
If you used Smithery's hosted URLs, move to each vendor's official MCP URL before 31 October, as Smithery advises. If you want help choosing between a runtime like Arcade and your own server, our MCP development team can scope both paths.
Frequently asked questions
What is an MCP runtime?
Arcade uses the term for a layer that handles sign-in, permissions, policy and tool execution for agents. Instead of each agent holding app credentials, the runtime does the work for the signed-in user.
How much does Arcade cost?
Free covers 2,000 tool calls a month. Team is $25 a month plus $0.01 per tool call. Enterprise pricing is custom and adds self-hosting, SSO and audit logs.
Did Arcade acquire Smithery?
Smithery's own notice says it is "now part of Arcade" and that its directory is "now powered by Arcade.dev." Arcade's homepage did not mention it on 28 October 2026, and we found no deal terms on either site.
Can I self-host Arcade?
Arcade's docs mention self-hosting with Helm, and the Enterprise plan lists deployment in your VPC or fully air-gapped. The Free and Team plans run on Arcade Cloud.
