# MCP gateway: Best MCP Gateways

**Answer in brief:** A proxy between agents and MCP servers that adds one endpoint, sign-in, policy, routing and logs.


## Where it matters

- [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.
- [Self-hosted or hosted gateways](/self-hosted-or-hosted/): Run the gateway yourself when you run the servers. Use a hosted one when you mostly need tools and control.
- [Gateways inside your own network](/gateways-inside-your-network/): If your company already runs Cloudflare Zero Trust or Kubernetes, the gateway can live there too.

## Related terms

- [MCP](/glossary/mcp/): The Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting AI agents to tools and data.
- [MCP registry](/glossary/mcp-registry/): A list of MCP servers with their addresses and metadata, so people and agents can find them.
- [Federation](/glossary/federation/): Joining several gateways or registries so they share one view of the available servers.
- [Control plane](/glossary/control-plane/): The part of a gateway that manages servers and policies. The data plane carries the calls.

## 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 is the first practical step?

Count the servers and agents you run. If you host your own servers, compare self-hosted gateways first. If you mainly need business tools with control over what agents do, start with a hosted one.

## Sources for this entry

This entry cites no outside page. The source register at /sources/ lists every page this reference cites.

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/glossary/mcp-gateway/