TL;DR
Two kinds of channels:
- Submit-and-manage-a-listing — hand over your URL and metadata. Minutes to a day. (Registries and aggregators.)
- Real review / certification — functional tests, policy, privacy and security review, sometimes install thresholds. Weeks to months. (ChatGPT, Muse, Microsoft and Google's marketplaces, the enterprise marketplaces, and Cursor's plugin marketplace.)
The highest-leverage move is publishing to the official MCP Registry, because several downstream catalogs and clients ingest from it. The highest-reach moves are the five big chat and agent surfaces: ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google Gemini Enterprise and, since September, Meta's Muse.
First, the meta-question: are you auto-discoverable anywhere?
No, and it's worth being precise about why. A lot of teams assume a /mcp endpoint is like a website Google will find.
- The core spec has no discovery mechanism. The
2026-07-28release added an optionalserver/discoverhandshake, but that's a client negotiating with a server it already has the URL for. It isn't a directory. - Server cards are the closest thing to one. The proposal (SEP-2127) reached Final on Oct 6, 2026, but as an optional extension, not core spec. A card can live at any URI (
<your-mcp-url>/server-cardis recommended), and a domain can advertise cards through an AI Catalog at/.well-known/ai-catalog.json. That makes your server describable to a client or crawler that goes looking. It doesn't make anyone look, and client adoption is unproven, so treat it as cheap groundwork, not distribution.
Discovery is a directory problem layered on top of the protocol, so distribution is a submission game. The submissions are mostly cheap. The high-reach ones aren't.
How we score each channel. Audience gets a raw proxy metric (MAU, installs, server counts, valuation — whatever public signal exists) plus a normalized tier: XL (hundreds of millions of users), L (millions / a dominant niche), M (tens–hundreds of thousands), S (niche but real). Effort is Submit-only (paste URL + metadata), Review (real vetting), or Connect (nothing to submit — users just add your URL).
Tier 1: The reviewed chat & agent clients (where the audience is)
Five destinations are worth real effort. All are remote-MCP-native. Four gate entry behind a genuine review; Claude lists you after an automated scan and reserves human review for some submissions and for Verified status. Three are XL-reach, Gemini Enterprise is L–XL, and Muse is new, with reach still unproven.
| Channel | What it is | Effort | Remote MCP? | Audience → tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (Apps SDK / Plugin Directory) | Third-party apps inside ChatGPT, built on MCP. Since July 2026 the old App Directory is the Plugin Directory; apps ship packaged as plugins | Review — OpenAI Developer Platform; identity verification; mandatory privacy policy; public domain; ~60–120 day reviews reported. Monetization is live (external checkout GA; in-app checkout in beta) | Yes (required) | ~900M weekly / 1B+ monthly users; ~1,600+ apps → XL |
| Claude (Connectors Directory) | Directory of MCP connectors, submitted through the developer portal at claude.ai/directory/manage | Submit + scan — any paid Claude plan can submit. An automated policy scan lists you as a Community connector by default with no action needed; some submissions also get human review, and that is the route to Verified status. Requirements: remote HTTPS server, OAuth 2.0 for account-level tools, a title plus readOnlyHint/destructiveHint on every tool, docs, privacy policy and a populated test account. Observability dashboard (users, tool calls, errors, rank) since Jun 2026 | Yes (remote only) | Tens of millions of MAU; ~840+ connectors → XL |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (Agent Store) | Agents inside Word, Outlook and Teams Copilot | Review — Partner Center; enterprise security and compliance validation; MCP-built agents GA in 2026 | Yes | Rides Microsoft 365's install base → XL |
| Google Gemini Enterprise (Agent Marketplace → Agent Gallery) | Partners list through Google Cloud Marketplace; since Apr 2026 those agents surface in the Agent Gallery inside the Gemini Enterprise app | Review — enterprise partner onboarding; managed MCP + Apigee bridge; $750M partner fund | Yes | 8M+ paid seats / 2,800 companies → L–XL |
| Meta Muse (Connector Platform) | Directory of connectors in Meta's Muse assistant; open to developers since Sep 18, 2026 | Review — submit at muse.ai/platform: hosted MCP endpoint (or raw API), docs, icon, privacy policy, terms, auth method. Meta reviews function, security and legal terms end to end, then editors pick featured placements. Reports add business verification and a data-processing questionnaire. Timing and fees unpublished | Yes (existing MCP accepted) | Fast consumer ramp; Muse is US/Canada only so far → L (unproven) |
What actually matters here:
- ChatGPT and Claude are the two proven consumer-scale, self-serve surfaces. Whichever path you're on, reviewers or scanners need to exercise your tools, so ship a populated test account and accurate tool annotations before you submit.
- Microsoft runs two speeds. The Agent Store is heavy. Copilot Studio (Tier 2) lets any maker connect your server by URL with no review. Separately, Agent 365 (GA May 2026) is where IT approves or blocks agents, and Claude's admin controls now let orgs block servers by URL pattern, so a clean, stable listing matters more.
- Google's realistic play is enterprise. The 900M-MAU consumer Gemini app has no public directory submission program, though reports say users can add a custom MCP URL.
- Muse is the first new consumer-scale submission door since ChatGPT and Claude. Meta separates reviewed directory connectors from custom ones users add for themselves, which it doesn't review. Launch connectors were mostly consumer (Spotify, Peloton, OpenTable, Plaid, Withings) with a few work tools like Tailscale; Meta hasn't published a full list. If you sell to individuals, get on it. If you sell B2B, it's a cheap bet, not a priority. Meta reports 2,000+ submissions in the first days and is onboarding in waves, so submit early. It isn't approving new money-movement tools, and it plans a small transaction fee with no published rate.
- Other consumer assistants aren't open doors. Grok's docs describe a catalog plus bring-your-own MCP and no developer submission path. Mistral's Le Chat directory is partner-managed (admins can add any URL). Perplexity offers custom connectors on paid plans and no developer program we found. For all of them, distribution means getting a user to paste your URL.
Tier 2: The "plug it in and it just works" clients
Here's the distinction most roundups miss: most of these clients consume your server by URL, so there's nothing to submit. Distribution means getting a user to paste your URL, or landing in the curated in-app catalog a few of them ship.
| Client | In-app catalog? | Effort | Remote MCP? | Audience → tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VS Code + GitHub Copilot | Yes — curated MCP marketplace, one-click install, OAuth | Submit-only / Connect | Yes | VS Code (tens of millions of devs); Copilot 20M+ → XL |
| Cursor | Yes — public marketplace of plugins bundling MCP servers, skills and rules, plus org Team Marketplaces; "Add to Cursor" deep links | Review for the marketplace (open-source plugin repo submitted at cursor.com/marketplace/publish, every plugin hand-reviewed) / Connect for users who paste your URL | Yes | Millions of devs → L |
| Cline | Yes — built-in MCP Marketplace | Submit-only / Connect | Yes | Popular OSS agent → M |
| Continue.dev | Yes — Continue Hub | Submit-only / Connect | Yes | Established OSS assistant → M |
| Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) | Partial | Connect | Yes | Large AI-IDE base → M–L |
| Zed | No (native config) | Connect | Yes | Fast-growing editor → M |
| Perplexity | Curated connectors | Connect (paid plans) | Yes | ~30M+ users → L |
| Raycast | Extensions store | Connect / Submit | Yes | Large Mac power-user base → M–L |
| Goose, Warp, LibreChat, JetBrains (AI Assistant / Junie) | Mostly no | Connect | Yes | Dev niches → S–M / L |
| Microsoft Copilot Studio | Connect by URL; can also publish its own MCP | Connect / light Submit | Yes | Enterprise makers → L |
The leverage move: several of these catalogs (VS Code among them) are registry-backed, so one publish to the official registry can propagate into them. Which brings us to Tier 3.
Tier 3: Registries & catalogs (where "just send the details" is literally true)
This is the cheap tier. Effort ranges from open self-serve forms to a review-gated GitHub PR.
| Registry | Effort | Remote MCP? | Size → tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) | Submit-only — CLI publish; reverse-DNS namespace auth (verified GitHub/domain). Still in preview (API v0.1, frozen since Oct 2025; no GA announced) | Yes | Canonical root, backed by Anthropic/GitHub/PulseMCP/Microsoft → L (strategic) |
| Glama | Mostly auto-crawl + security scan (you may already be listed) | Yes | Tens of thousands indexed → L |
| GitHub MCP Registry (github.com/mcp) | Curated; also what VS Code's one-click install reads. Listing has gone through GitHub's partnerships team, so check the current process. Enterprises can point Copilot at their own registry and block everything else, so their registry is the new gate | Yes | Every Copilot user → L |
| PulseMCP | Submit-only — open button; "Remote Available" filter; daily updates + newsletter | Yes | 10K–22K servers → M–L |
| mcp.so | Submit-only | Yes | Tens of thousands → M |
| Smithery | Submit-only + optional hosting of your remote server | Yes | ~3K verified / ~7K total → L |
| Docker MCP Catalog | Review-gated PR to docker/mcp-registry; live in ~24h | Yes | Docker Desktop reach → L |
| Composio | Hosting + managed servers (SOC 2), more than a listing | Yes | 500+ servers, 100K+ devs → L |
| LobeHub MCP Marketplace | Submit-only — community catalog | Yes | Established catalog → M |
| Awesome MCP Servers (GitHub) | PR to README | Yes | High-traffic dev reference → M |
| MCP Market, mcpservers.org, Apify, Cloudflare | Submit / host | Yes | Varies → S–L |
Server counts differ 2–3× between trackers because registries crawl GitHub and each other and count the same server repeatedly. Read them as relative size, not distinct servers.
Publish to the official registry first. It's the closest thing to "list once, propagate," and the only catalog co-governed by the model vendors plus GitHub and Microsoft. Budget about an hour for the CLI and namespace verification.
A trap to avoid: Zapier MCP and Pipedream MCP aren't places to list your server
They're often filed under "registries," but they're hosted endpoints that expose their connector catalogs to any AI client. You don't list your server there. If your app already has a Zapier integration, it's already reachable through Zapier MCP, which is free indirect reach (Zapier fronts 8,000+ apps). Pipedream is the one to be careful with: Pipedream Workflows shuts down Mar 31, 2027 (no new signups since Sep 30), though Pipedream Connect and its MCP servers are unaffected. Don't build a plan around it.
Tier 4: The traditional marketplaces now bringing MCP along
For B2B, often the most consequential tier. Every incumbent enterprise marketplace added MCP or agent listings in 2026, each behind its existing, heavy certification.
| Marketplace | MCP posture (2026) | Effort | Size → tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce AgentExchange | AppExchange, Slack Marketplace and Agentforce merged in Apr 2026 (the AppExchange name is retired). Reports from Dreamforce (Sep 2026) say MCP servers are now an explicit listing category beside apps, agents, skills and plugins. Separately, Hosted MCP Servers went GA in Apr 2026 (org-internal, via Setup — not a listing) | Review (marketplace) / config-only (internal) | 10K+ listings → XL |
| HubSpot App Marketplace | Apps (including MCP-backed) are certified, and HubSpot ships its own MCP. The catch: only a platform's owner or an explicitly delegated party may list its MCP server; third-party connectors to someone else's server are not permitted at this time | Review — ≥60 active installs, 95% success rate, OAuth v3, security questionnaire. MCP listings add HTTPS/streamable transport, token refresh, no unresolved critical or high vulnerabilities, a demo video and 1–5 use cases. First feedback in ~10 business days. Apps with sensitive-data scopes can't include an MCP component | 250K+ customers → L |
| Slack Marketplace | Part of AgentExchange. Slackbot is an MCP client, and a Slack app can expose an MCP server that users install from the Marketplace | Review — standard Slack review plus the mcp:connect bot scope, a valid HTTPS MCP URL and configured auth | Slack's enterprise base → XL |
| Atlassian / ServiceNow / Microsoft / Google Workspace | Atlassian: Rovo MCP for Forge apps was early access as of its May–Jun 2026 RFC, so confirm status before planning. ServiceNow: its MCP Registry app holds third-party certified servers beside customer and in-house ones. Microsoft and Google Workspace: Partner Center and Workspace add-ons, with MCP paths still forming | Review | Large enterprise bases → L–XL |
The pattern: "bring your MCP along" means "go through our existing ISV certification." The MCP part is easy; the certification is the work. Salesforce is the clearest embrace (an explicit MCP catalog in a unified marketplace). HubSpot is the clearest reminder that these are real gates, not listings.
What we'd actually do, in order
- Publish to the official MCP Registry. Highest-leverage submit-only action (~1 hour).
- Claim your auto-crawled listings — Glama, PulseMCP, mcp.so, Smithery (minutes each; Glama may already have you).
- Decide on ChatGPT, Claude and Muse. Prep a privacy policy, terms of service, tool safety annotations and a populated test account before submitting.
- If your buyers are enterprise, pick your incumbent marketplace — Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft, Gemini Enterprise — and treat it as a full ISV certification.
- Check Zapier. If you already have an integration there, you're already in Zapier MCP.
- Publish a server card (
<your-mcp-url>/server-card) once the other steps are done. It costs little and may pay off as clients adopt it.
What changed recently (through Oct 2026)
- Oct 6: server cards (SEP-2127) reached Final as an optional extension. Core spec unchanged. The official registry is still in preview.
- Sep 29: at DevDay, OpenAI let ChatGPT plugins include interactive panels and views, and reportedly plans to move custom GPTs to plugins.
- Sep (Dreamforce): Salesforce made MCP servers a listing category in AgentExchange.
- Sep 18: Meta opened the Muse Connector Platform to developers.
- Names that changed: Windsurf → Devin Desktop (Jun 2026); Azure AI Foundry → Microsoft Foundry (Nov 2025); Vertex AI → Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Apr 2026); ChatGPT App Directory → Plugin Directory (Jul 2026); AppExchange → AgentExchange. Google's Agent Marketplace and Agent Gallery are not a rename: you list in one and users find you in the other.
- Correction: the Aug 5 version of this post still said "App Directory", which was already retired.
Earlier in 2026:
- Dec 2025: ChatGPT opened app submissions.
- Apr: Claude folded its MCP Directory Policy into a broader Software Directory Policy. Salesforce merged its marketplaces. Microsoft Power Platform makers gained the ability to publish their own MCP servers. Google launched the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform.
- May: HubSpot refreshed its listing requirements. Agent 365 went GA.
- Jun: Cursor shipped its public marketplace and Team Marketplaces. Claude added the connector observability dashboard.
- Jul: ChatGPT monetization went live. MCP-built agents hit GA in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and remote MCP plus bring-your-own-MCP publishing hit GA in Gemini Enterprise. The
2026-07-28spec shipped as the current final version.
FAQ
Appendix: Every channel — with info & submission links
The complete list from this guide — all four tiers, each with a link to learn more plus an action link. Not every row is a place you can get listed. Registries and marketplaces take a real submission; many clients are connect-only — there's nothing to list into, and the link just shows a user how to add any MCP server by URL. The link text says which is which (see the key below the table). Grab the raw CSV for the full detail (what-it-is, audience, remote-MCP support, and both URLs per channel).
⬇ Download the full table (CSV)| # | Channel | Category | Effort | Tier | Info | Submit / add |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatGPT (Apps SDK / Plugin Directory) | Reviewed client | Review | XL | Docs | Submit → |
| 2 | Claude (Connectors Directory) | Reviewed client | Submit + scan (human review for Verified) | XL | Docs | Submit → |
| 3 | Microsoft 365 Copilot (Agent Store) | Reviewed client | Review | XL | Docs | Submit → |
| 4 | Google Gemini Enterprise (Agent Marketplace / Agent Gallery) | Reviewed client | Review | L–XL | Docs | Submit → † |
| 5 | Meta Muse (Connector Platform) | Reviewed client | Review | L (unproven) | Docs | Submit → |
| 6 | VS Code + GitHub Copilot | Plug-in client | Submit / Connect | XL | Docs | Submit → † |
| 7 | Cursor | Plug-in client | Review (marketplace) / Connect | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 8 | Cline | Plug-in client | Submit / Connect | M | Docs | Submit → |
| 9 | Continue.dev | Plug-in client | Submit / Connect | M | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 10 | Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) | Plug-in client | Connect | M–L | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 11 | Zed | Plug-in client | Connect | M | Docs | Submit → |
| 12 | Perplexity | Plug-in client | Connect | L | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 13 | Raycast | Plug-in client | Connect / Submit | M–L | Docs | Submit → |
| 14 | Goose (Block) | Plug-in client | Connect | S–M | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 15 | Warp | Plug-in client | Connect | M | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 16 | LibreChat | Plug-in client | Connect | M | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 17 | JetBrains (AI Assistant / Junie) | Plug-in client | Connect | L | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 18 | Microsoft Copilot Studio | Plug-in client | Connect | L | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 19 | Claude Desktop / Claude Code | Plug-in client | Connect | L–XL | Docs | Add-server docs → |
| 20 | Official MCP Registry | Registry | Submit-only | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 21 | GitHub MCP Registry | Registry | Curated / partner-gated | L | Docs | Submit → † |
| 22 | Glama | Registry | Auto-crawl | L | Docs | Claim → † |
| 23 | PulseMCP | Registry | Submit-only | M–L | Docs | Submit → |
| 24 | mcp.so | Registry | Submit-only | M | Docs | Submit → |
| 25 | Smithery | Registry | Submit + hosting | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 26 | Docker MCP Catalog | Registry | Review-gated PR | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 27 | Composio | Registry | Hosting | L | Docs | Build → † |
| 28 | LobeHub MCP Marketplace | Registry | Submit-only | M | Docs | Submit → |
| 29 | Awesome MCP Servers (GitHub) | Registry | PR to README | M | Docs | Submit → |
| 30 | MCP Market | Registry | Submit-only | S–M | Docs | Submit → |
| 31 | mcpservers.org | Registry | Submit-only | S | Docs | Submit → |
| 32 | Apify | Registry | Hosting | M–L | Docs | Publish → † |
| 33 | Cloudflare | Registry | Hosting / deploy | L (infra) | Docs | Build → |
| 34 | Zapier MCP | Indirect | Ride integration | XL (indirect) | Docs | Build → |
| 35 | Pipedream MCP (Connect; Workflows shut down Mar 2027) | Indirect | Ride integration | S–M (indirect) | Docs | Build → |
| 36 | Salesforce AgentExchange (+ Hosted MCP) | Marketplace | Review | XL | Docs | Partner → † |
| 37 | HubSpot App Marketplace | Marketplace | Review (60 installs; MCP: owner-only) | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 38 | Slack Marketplace | Marketplace | Review | XL | Docs | Submit → |
| 39 | Atlassian (Rovo / Marketplace) | Marketplace | Review | L | Docs | Submit → |
| 40 | ServiceNow (Now Assist / Store) | Marketplace | Review | L | Docs | Partner → † |
| 41 | Microsoft Partner Center / Microsoft Foundry | Marketplace | Review | XL | Docs | Submit → |
| 42 | Google Workspace Marketplace | Marketplace | Review | XL (indirect) | Docs | Submit → |
Link key: Submit → = submit to get listed, so others discover you (registries, marketplaces, curated client catalogs). Add-server docs → = connect-only client — there's no listing to submit to; the link just shows an end user how to add any MCP server by URL, so you reach these users by getting them to paste your URL, not by appearing in a catalog. Build → = indirect endpoint (Zapier/Pipedream/Cloudflare) — build/host to ride it. † = a listing exists but has no open self-serve form (curated or partner-gated); the link goes to the closest official onboarding path.
Audience and server-count figures live in the CSV; they're public proxies (Oct 2026) that drift week to week, so treat the effort and tier columns as the durable signal.