# Composio (API + MCP) vs MCP Gateway > Composio scores 77.7 (BB) to MCP Gateway's 71 (BB) for tool access for agents. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola.md (~5,500 tokens) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - DNS: dig +short TXT .grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.. and .vs.. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-11-02 Composio (API + MCP) scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against MCP Gateway's 71 (BB), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. MCP Gateway leads on reliability. Both do tool access for agents. - Composio (API + MCP): grade BB, 77.7/100, rank #21 of 1266. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/composio-rube.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/composio-rube.json - MCP Gateway: grade BB, 71/100, rank #158 of 1266. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mcp-gateway-parkkola.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mcp-gateway-parkkola.json - Best agent tool access platforms: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/aggregator/index.md - All 55 tool access comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aggregator/index.md - Best auth and delegated access for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-auth/index.md - All 126 agent auth comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-auth/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Composio (API + MCP) (BB) Good for: A developer whose agent acts in many apps for many end users and wants auth, tool schemas and execution handled. Ahead on: - Schema & documentation, 89 against 75 - Agent ergonomics, 90 against 77 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 30 - Transparency & trust, 83 against 60 Also in its favour: - A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install - Open source Watch for: Rube shut down on 16 May 2026, so old rube.app configs are dead ### MCP Gateway (BB) Good for: One person running many local and remote MCP servers who wants a single local entry with a small tool list, scoped keys and poisoning checks Ahead on: - Reliability, 87 against 70 Also in its favour: - Runs on your own machine Watch for: The project's own live run found the meta path used 1.2 to 16.1 per cent more input tokens and one extra turn on every task ## Why the edge ### Payments & pricing: Composio (API + MCP) +30 - Composio (API + MCP) (60): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-unit prices public without a login, $0.0003 a tool call and $0.003 a trigger event on Pro, $0.0005 and $0.005 through Composio-managed apps, re-read on 1 November (20). Hobby has 100,000 tool calls and 50,000 triggers a month with no card, paused at the cap (20). `composio login --agent` creates an agent account and project key from the CLI with no browser or email signup, documented for unattended agents. Connecting a person's apps still needs their OAuth consent (20). 0 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 60. - MCP Gateway (30): Self-hosted rule, scored on the paid option because any company use needs a commercial licence, as gaia and screenpipe (also noncommercial licences) were read. No payment protocol (0). The standard commercial licence is a public flat EUR 500 a month per named project through GitHub Sponsors, plan-only pricing (10). Personal and noncommercial use is free with no card or account, but there is no free route or stated evaluation period for a company (10 of 20). It installs from Homebrew, crates.io or ghcr.io with no sign-up, and an agent with a shell can run the setup wizard, but buying the licence takes a person on GitHub Sponsors, as screenpipe's did (10 of 20). 0 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 30. ### Transparency & trust: Composio (API + MCP) +23 - Composio (API + MCP) (83): SDKs and CLI are MIT on GitHub, the platform is hosted and closed under Sampark Inc's terms (20). A retention page that matches the ZDR page, tool logs with payloads kept up to a year, and ZDR as a paid add-on. The DPA, last updated 17 October 2026, and the retention page, both re-read on 1 November, agree on deletion within 30 days of an organisation's deletion and on payloads never being used to train models, with de-identified execution metadata allowed for training and kept indefinitely (30). Rube's shutdown came with 37 days from the end of sign-ups to closure and refunds, price changes carry dates and legacy plans run to 31 December 2026, and the changelog carries dated deprecations and breaking changes, but there's no written deprecation policy (14). The DPA points to the subprocessor list in the trust centre, which renders only with JavaScript and we couldn't read, and the docs don't state hosting regions (12). 20 + 30 + 14 + 12 = 76. - MCP Gateway (60): PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, source-available and not OSI, with affirmative SPDX headers on every first-party file and LICENSES.md, NOTICE.md and COMMERCIAL.md that agree with each other and say what the earlier MIT grants still cover. Read as gaia's PolyForm source was (20 of 30). Self-hosted, so data stays where the owner runs it; secrets go to the OS keychain, files holding them are 0600 on Unix, and SECURITY.md states the Windows gap. There is no privacy statement (20 of 30). Deprecation notices with versions for the MIT 3.0.0 to 3.2.1 releases on crates.io and npm, upgrade guides for 3.0 and 4.0 and a stated support window of the latest release only, but the 3.3.0 relicence has no changelog entry, and AUTHORSHIP.md says the licensing scheme still awaits an IP lawyer's sign-off (9 of 20). No telemetry, analytics or update check found in the source; Prometheus metrics stay local behind a feature flag, and the plugin marketplace host is contacted only by plugin commands. The docs state nothing either way (15 of 20). 20 + 20 + 9 + 15 = 64. ### Reliability: MCP Gateway +17 - Composio (API + MCP) (70): Rube itself is gone, so this grades the Composio platform that's left. Instatus page at status.composio.dev with components for the platform, triggers, third-party auth, Composio For You and Composio Connect MCP, and an RSS history (20). In the 90 days to 1 November, Composio Connect MCP returned 502s to about 19 per cent of users for 7 hours 58 minutes from 19:42 UTC on 6 October, still read as one major outage. Smaller incidents were QuickBooks rate limits on 22 August, API latency on 24 August (1 hour 29 minutes), degraded webhook triggers on 2 September (1 hour 10 minutes), platform API errors on 17 September (21 minutes), an 8-minute auth problem on 18 September, Instagram toolkit errors on 2 October (1 hour 34 minutes), the Discord Bot toolkit unavailable from 5 to 7 October and 5 minutes of platform errors on 15 October. Since 17 October, Connect links failed with "Invalid or expired link" for some end users from 05:30 to 18:05 UTC on 20 October after a new rate limit was applied too strictly, which hit one feature and so reads as partial. Latency was degraded on some endpoints for 1 hour 33 minutes on 21 October (19:34 to 21:07 UTC), Code Interpreter tool calls failed from 22 to 23 October until the toolkit was disabled, and Workday, Salesforce and Canvas triggers failed for 18 hours 55 minutes from 22 October. The platform had a 10-minute major outage on 23 October (10:39 to 10:49 UTC), partial outages of 10 minutes on 25 October and 5 minutes on 26 October, an 8-minute Tool Search incident on 26 October, and Connect MCP a 7-minute major outage on 30 October (05:20 to 05:27 UTC) after a faulty deployment. All are under an hour, so minor by our line, and the incident pages give these durations where the RSS feed says 11 hours 37 minutes and 7 hours for 25 and 30 October. One major (10). Limits per organisation per minute, 2,000 on Hobby and 10,000 on Pro, re-read on 1 November (15). 429s carry Retry-After and X-RateLimit headers, the docs say to honour it, and the SDKs (since 12 October) and CLI 0.5.0 (21 October) send executions once, with no retry after a timeout (15). No SLA published below Enterprise (0). The platform is GA, with approvals and some session policies marked experimental (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 70. - MCP Gateway (87): Local-package reading, as for graphicle and claude-mem, since the owner runs it. Official packages on crates.io (`cargo install mcp-gateway`), a Homebrew tap, release binaries and ghcr.io, with Rust 1.95 and macOS, Linux and Windows builds stated (20). A public CI workflow runs clippy with warnings as errors, the full test suite, fmt, cargo audit, secret scans and Helm smoke tests on pushes and pull requests, and the last eight runs on main passed by 26 October 2026 (25). Four open issues on GitHub on 2 November 2026, one a labelled bug filed by the maintainer, and the newest outside issue was answered the day it was opened. Closed issues couldn't be read (robots.txt), so the record is partial (18 of 25). Keep a Changelog with BREAKING entries and migration notes for 3.0 and 4.0 and an UPGRADING-4.0.md, but 3.3.0, which relicensed the code, has no changelog section, and 4.0.0 is dated 19 September there while only betas exist (9 of 15). Stable is 3.5.1, after two earlier majors; 4.0.0 is in beta (15). 20 + 25 + 18 + 9 + 15 = 87. ### Schema & documentation: Composio (API + MCP) +14 - Composio (API + MCP) (89): OpenAPI 3.0 for API v3.1 with 94 paths (93 on 17 October, re-read on 1 November), and a legacy v3.0 reference, with documented 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 409, 422 and 429 responses (25). llms.txt, llms-index.txt and llms-full.txt at docs.composio.dev (10). The seven Connect meta-tools state what each does and when, such as waiting for a user to finish OAuth, while the thousands of app tool schemas are generated from each provider and vary (14). Typed request bodies, and strict tool schemas hardened on 27 August 2026, though bare object arguments are accepted since 6 August (11). An errors reference for v3 and worked examples across the docs (14). Versioned API (v3, v3.1) and a dated changelog that flags breaking changes (15). 25 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 14 + 15 = 89. - MCP Gateway (75): Every meta-tool declares a typed JSON Schema input with required fields, read from src/gateway/meta_mcp_tool_defs.rs, and server.json is published to the official registry. `gateway_invoke` passes backend `arguments` as an open object by design (22 of 25). llms.txt at the repository root, and Markdown docs in the tree (10). Descriptions say what each tool does and when (search first, then invoke; kill and revive say what they change for every session), and the initialize preamble names the discovery order. Backend tool descriptions come from the user's servers and aren't the gateway's (14 of 20). `gateway_list_tools` has an enum on `role`, `gateway_search` caps `limit` at 25 and `detail` is an enum, `nonce` has length bounds; `limit` on `gateway_search_tools` has no maximum (11 of 15). README, QUICKSTART, an annotated gateway-full.yaml and a troubleshooting section; errors are described in prose, with did-you-mean suggestions, and there is no error reference (8 of 15). Semver over the CLI and config file, stated in the README, and a long changelog, less for the missing 3.3.0 section and the misdated 1.0.0 and 2.0.0 entries (10 of 15). 22 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 8 + 10 = 75. ### Agent ergonomics: Composio (API + MCP) +13 - Composio (API + MCP) (90): Composio Connect exposes seven meta-tools that search, fetch schemas, run tools in parallel and manage connections, and sessions can load only chosen toolkits (25). List endpoints page and filter, auth-config fetches go to 200 at a time, and sessions offload large responses to the sandbox (18). An error reference with codes and messages an agent can act on, and since 22 October a blocked call returns `result_type` blocked with a reason (17). Sessions filter tools by readOnlyHint, destructiveHint and idempotentHint tags, and the docs warn that non-idempotent tools aren't retried, but there are no idempotency keys (15). Official SDKs in Python and TypeScript, and a session needs only a user ID (15). 25 + 18 + 17 + 15 + 15 = 90. - MCP Gateway (77): MCP context cost. Nine to 17 meta-tools, 11 in the default admin set, whatever the number of backends, so 15 for 11 to 30 tools, plus 10 back for Code Mode's two tools, `exposed_meta_tools` and surfaced tools (25). The project's own live run of 4 September 2026 found the meta path used 1.2 to 16.1 per cent more input tokens and one extra turn on every task, which the README states; the context saving is a schema-size saving, so less 5 (20 of 25). `gateway_search_tools` and `gateway_search` take `limit`, `gateway_search` has L0, L1 and L2 detail tiers, `gateway_list_tools` filters by server and role, and backend responses can be shaped with transform chains (17 of 20). Did-you-mean on tool names, LLM-readable output-schema failures, circuit-breaker and disabled status in `gateway_list_servers`, and rate-limited calls excluded from the kill budgets (16 of 20). Meta-tools carry readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint; destructive meta-tools ask through elicitation, which the source calls a courtesy rather than a control; an idempotency guard exists per ADR-012 (16 of 20). One required argument for search and two for invoke; Rust only, no SDK applies, and setup takes a wizard and a config file (8 of 15). 20 + 17 + 16 + 16 + 8 = 77. ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Composio (API + MCP) | MCP Gateway | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 87 | MCP Gateway +17 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 75 | Composio (API + MCP) +14 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 77 | Composio (API + MCP) +13 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 84 | 80 | Composio (API + MCP) +4 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | Composio (API + MCP) +30 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 90 | Composio (API + MCP) +3 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 60 | Composio (API + MCP) +23 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -2 | | | **Total** | | **77.7 · BB** | **71 · BB** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Composio (API + MCP) | MCP Gateway | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | HTTP API | MCP server | | Vendor | Composio | Mikko Parkkola | | Hosted endpoint | `https://backend.composio.dev/api/v3.1` | no (local only) | | Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | stdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy), websocket | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Freemium | Freemium | | Price for tool access for agents | $0.0003 per call | not published | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | MIT | PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 (source-available, not OSI) for every first-party file from 4.0.0. Personal and noncommercial use is free; running it in or for a business needs a commercial licence at EUR 500 a month per named project through GitHub Sponsors. 3.0.0 to 3.2.1 shipped as MIT and stay MIT for those copies, and 3.3.x shipped a small MIT core under per-file headers | | Tools exposed | 7 | 11 | | Read-only variant documented | yes | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | MCP registry | `io.github.ComposioHQ/composio` | `io.github.MikkoParkkola/mcp-gateway` | | Last release | 2026-10-22 | 2026-10-06 | | Terms last updated | no date given | no date given | | Privacy policy last updated | 2025-11-18 | no document linked | | Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text | | Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Popularity | 30k stars, 1.1M npm/wk | 65 stars, 49 npm/wk | | Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (8) | none | ## How the scores have moved ### Composio (API + MCP) - -0.6 on 1 November 2026 (A to BB): security, product, negative event - +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist - +3.1 on 17 October 2026 (BB to A): terms, product, new evidence ### MCP Gateway No score change since it was listed. ## Verdicts **Composio (API + MCP).** Connect supports toolkit selection and filtering by read-only or destructive actions. Rube closed on 16 May 2026, so existing rube.app configurations need migration. **MCP Gateway.** A local gateway that puts many MCP servers and REST APIs behind 9 to 17 typed, annotated meta-tools, with scoped keys, tool-poisoning scans, audit logs and CI on every change. Its own benchmark found no completed-task token saving, one person maintains it, and since 4.0.0 commercial use needs a EUR 500 a month licence. ## Before you call either ### Composio (API + MCP) 1. Pass the Connect Link from COMPOSIO_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS to the user and call COMPOSIO_WAIT_FOR_CONNECTIONS rather than asking for credentials 2. Filter the session to `readOnlyHint` tools when the task only reads, and on a paid plan add a `prompt_injection_check` hook so injected tool results come back blocked 3. Don't retry a timed-out send or create call blind, check the app first, since the SDKs and CLI send executions once and won't retry them 4. Replace any rube.app/mcp entry with connect.composio.dev/mcp or a session MCP URL 5. With no human available, run `composio login --agent` and read the project key from agent.json; don't script the browser signup ### MCP Gateway 1. Call `gateway_search_tools` with a keyword first, then `gateway_invoke` with the returned `server` and `tool`; expect one extra turn per task. 2. Pass backend arguments inside `arguments` as an object; the gateway does not check them against the backend schema before routing. 3. Read `gateway_list_servers` for `circuit_breaker` and `status: disabled` before retrying a failing backend; a killed backend stays off until `gateway_revive_server`. 4. Treat tool results as untrusted. The response scanner is pattern-based and doesn't make backend output safe to follow. 5. Expect `gateway_kill_server`, `gateway_reload_config` and similar to be refused over HTTP unless the operator gave you an admin key. ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Composio (API + MCP) or MCP Gateway? Composio (API + MCP) scores 77.7 (BB) on agent readiness against MCP Gateway's 71 (BB), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. MCP Gateway leads on reliability. ### Do Composio (API + MCP) and MCP Gateway need an API key? Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ### Can an agent call Composio (API + MCP) and MCP Gateway without installing anything? Composio (API + MCP) has a hosted endpoint at https://backend.composio.dev/api/v3.1. MCP Gateway runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. ### Are Composio (API + MCP) and MCP Gateway open source? Composio (API + MCP) is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for MCP Gateway. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "composio-rube", "b": "mcp-gateway-parkkola"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare composio-rube mcp-gateway-parkkola` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/composio-rube.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mcp-gateway-parkkola.json ## Other comparisons with Composio (API + MCP) or MCP Gateway - [AgentWeb vs MCP Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentweb-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs letme](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-letme.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs Monid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-monid.md) - [letme vs MCP Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/letme-vs-mcp-gateway-parkkola.md) - [MCP Gateway vs Merge Agent Handler](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-merge-agent-handler.md) - [MCP Gateway vs Monid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-monid.md) - [MCP Gateway vs One](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-one.md) - [MCP Gateway vs Smithery](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-smithery.md) - [MCP Gateway vs StackOne](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-stackone.md) - [MCP Gateway vs Unified.to MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-unified-to-mcp.md) - [MCP Gateway vs Zapier MCP (agent actions)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mcp-gateway-parkkola-vs-zapier-mcp.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs Merge Agent Handler](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-merge-agent-handler.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs One](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-one.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs Smithery](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-smithery.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs StackOne](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-stackone.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs Unified.to MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-unified-to-mcp.md) - [Composio (API + MCP) vs Zapier MCP (agent actions)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/composio-rube-vs-zapier-mcp.md) - [AgentWeb vs Composio (API + MCP)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentweb-vs-composio-rube.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp