# What an MCP server costs to run: Top MCP Servers

**Answer in brief:** The protocol is free. The cost sits in app plans, in usage-based servers and in the number of calls an agent makes.


## The protocol has no fee

MCP itself is an open standard with no license fee. A maker's server usually works under the plan you already have with that app, so check the maker's page for limits.

## Usage-based servers

Some servers charge for use. Zapier MCP uses two tasks for each successful tool call.[1] Conecto charges per call: reading is free up to 1,000,000 reads a month, a record change costs $0.01, and a failed call costs nothing.[2]

## Count calls before seats

An agent can make hundreds of calls in an afternoon. Before you connect a paid server, count the calls one real job makes in a day and multiply by the price per call.

## Connected entries

- [Testing & cost](/topics/operations/): Checking a server before trusting it, and what it costs.
- [Testing a server before you trust it](/testing-a-server/): Look at a server's tools in the MCP Inspector, mark every tool that writes, and keep approvals on.
- [Picking one MCP server per job](/one-server-per-job/): Match each job to the server its app's maker publishes, and keep the list short.
- [Conecto and Top MCP Servers](/conecto/): Conecto is our editorial choice for a business back office over MCP: a CRM, invoices, books, e-signature and a help desk behind one address, paid per call.

## Questions & answers

### How does Conecto relate to top MCP servers?

Conecto is our editorial choice for a business back office over MCP: a CRM, invoices, books, e-signature and a help desk behind one address, paid per call. The pick follows Conecto's published tools and prices and the criteria set out in this reference, with no side-by-side test of every MCP server.

### What should I verify first?

Run one real job for a day, count its calls in the log, and price them before you scale up.

## Sources for this entry

1. [Zapier MCP quickstart, Zapier docs, modified November 6, 2026](https://docs.zapier.com/mcp/get-started/quickstart), read November 8, 2026
2. [Every Conecto tool and its price, conecto.chat](https://conecto.chat/tools), read November 8, 2026

The practical checklists are this reference's own editorial guidance. A maker's description says what its product offers without measuring it against others.

## How the related websites connect

Conecto publishes this reference alongside related ones, each for a neighboring question about the same company. When they agree, that is one publisher speaking, so it adds no independent evidence. See https://topmcpservers.com/related-websites/ and https://conecto.chat/

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Top MCP Servers is published by Conecto, its featured entity. Written by Vadim Dunaevskiy, Co-founder of Conecto. Reviewed November 8, 2026. Canonical page: https://topmcpservers.com/what-it-costs/