12 968 servers measured · 2026-10-03
How many context tokens does an MCP server cost?
The median remote server in the official MCP registry costs 1 724 tokens of context per session. This is the cost of its tool definitions only. The 90th percentile is 7 429 tokens. The 99th percentile is 28 200 tokens. The heaviest server costs 431 925 tokens. That is more than two full 200k windows. We measured 12 968 servers on 2026-10-03.
Why does an MCP server cost tokens before I send a prompt?
A client sends the model the name, the description and the input schema of each tool. It does this for each connected server at the start of a session. It does this again in each turn. These definitions are part of the prompt. You pay for them in each request. This is true also when the model calls no tool.
How do we measure the cost?
We serialize each tool as compact JSON with name, description and input_schema. We count the tokens with the o200k_base tokenizer. Clients wrap tool definitions in different ways. Models tokenize in different ways. The count is a minimum. It is the same minimum for every server. This makes servers comparable.
How many tokens does one specific MCP server cost?
Each remote server in the registry has a page at https://mcp-pulse.ulehla.dev/s/<registry name>. The page shows the measured cost, the tool count and the status. For a server that is not in the registry, https://mcp-pulse.ulehla.dev/check probes it now. In a terminal, npx mcptop measures the servers in your own Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code or Windsurf config.
What is a good budget?
Half of all servers cost less than 1 724 tokens. A config with a total of a few thousand tokens is cheap. If one server costs more than 20 000 tokens, ask if you need all of its tools. 20 of the 20 heaviest servers are above that limit. The command npx mcptop --budget 30000 fails a CI run when a config grows past the budget.
Does a server that needs auth also cost tokens?
Yes. After you authenticate, it sends its tool definitions like any other server. The board cannot list the tools of a server that refuses clients without credentials. These servers show “needs auth” and no count. mcptop measures them with the headers from your config.
The heaviest servers today
| Server | Tools | Tokens | Of 200k |
|---|---|---|---|
| com.replynodes/mcp | 66 | 431 925 | 216.0 % |
| io.github.whiteknightonhorse/apibase | 1 385 | 343 770 | 171.9 % |
| co.ainumbers/tools | 725 | 343 011 | 171.5 % |
| ai.oobeprotocol.sap.mcp/sap-mcp | 453 | 178 444 | 89.2 % |
| io.github.Invaro/opentax | 15 | 175 279 | 87.6 % |
| io.github.WellApp-ai/well-mcp | 119 | 156 630 | 78.3 % |
| io.github.duvoai/duvo | 390 | 143 460 | 71.7 % |
| com.tttkmbb/calcgrid | 253 | 140 579 | 70.3 % |
| io.github.getgapup/gapup-mcp | 279 | 103 782 | 51.9 % |
| io.github.getgapup/mcp-knowledge | 279 | 103 782 | 51.9 % |