Best MCP Gateways & Proxies MCP Servers

Gateways and proxies sit between an MCP client and other tool services. They can address connection management, transport adaptation, or access to multiple endpoints, depending on the project. This category is about the infrastructure around tool use rather than a single domain capability. Adding an intermediary changes the trust boundary: it may see tool descriptions, arguments, responses, and credentials passing through the system.

Begin with a diagram of the clients, upstream servers, and identities involved. Check which transports the project accepts and produces, how it forwards authentication, and whether it isolates one user's session from another. Do not assume a proxy provides authorization or audit logging unless those features are documented. Test connection failures and upstream changes as well as the happy path, because a routing layer becomes part of every dependent workflow. Review where configuration and secrets are stored before exposing it on a network. Compare operational complexity with the number of connections you actually need. A gateway should make the system easier to understand and control, not simply move an unclear collection of permissions behind one endpoint.