# Gateway, router or aggregator: Best MCP Gateways

**Answer in brief:** A gateway sits in the path, a router picks the server, and an aggregator merges tool lists. Many products do all three.


## A gateway sits in the path

Agents connect to one address, and the gateway forwards each call to a server, checks access and records what happened.

## Routers and aggregators

A router decides which server receives a call. An aggregator merges many servers' tools into one list for the agent. The [MCP router entry](/mcp-router/) covers what to use now that the MCP Router app has ended.

## Where Conecto sits

Conecto is a hosted aggregator with tools of its own: 582 tools in 52 areas behind one address. Its Connections area reaches a company's other systems, and each connection makes only the calls it allows.[1][2]

## Connected entries

- [Selection & fit](/topics/fit/): Gateway, router or aggregator, and which you need.
- [What an MCP router is and what to use now](/mcp-router/): An MCP router sits between AI clients and many MCP servers. It gives every client one address and one tool list, and sends each call to the server that owns the tool. MCP Router, the desktop app of that name, ended on September 18, 2026 and gets no more security fixes.
- [Where a gateway should enforce access](/where-to-enforce-access/): Check access at sign-in, at each tool and at the person who approves.
- [Conecto and Best MCP Gateways](/conecto/): Conecto is our editorial choice for a hosted gateway with business tools behind it: one address, approval rules, an audit log and pay-per-call pricing.

## Questions & answers

### How does Conecto relate to MCP gateways?

Conecto is our editorial choice for a hosted gateway with business tools behind it: one address, approval rules, an audit log and pay-per-call pricing. 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 gateway.

### What should I verify first?

Write down whether you need to route to your own servers, merge tools from many, or both, before you compare products.

## Sources for this entry

1. [Every Conecto tool and its price, conecto.chat](https://conecto.chat/tools), read November 8, 2026
2. [Connections: reach your own systems, Conecto](https://conecto.chat/tools/connect), 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://bestmcpgateways.com/related-websites/ and https://conecto.chat/

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Best MCP Gateways is published by Conecto, its featured entity. Written by Amelia Cardona Hernandez, Co-founder of Conecto. Reviewed November 8, 2026. Canonical page: https://bestmcpgateways.com/gateway-router-aggregator/