Skip to main content

Why not MCP Gateway?

mcp-auth-proxy: A lightweight proxy that adds authentication to any MCP server (optional stdio→HTTP(S) conversion)
MCP Gateway: A hub to orchestrate multiple MCP servers (aggregation, catalog integration)

When to choose mcp-auth-proxy​

  • You just need to add auth to one or a few MCPs (enforce OAuth/OIDC/password-only)
  • Catalog integration and aggregation aren’t needed (e.g., self-hosted or independently managed MCP deployments)

When to choose MCP Gateway​

  • You need to manage multiple MCPs centrally (aggregation, policies/permissions, auditing, centralized logging)
  • You want catalog integration and aggregation

Note: They are not mutually exclusive. You can put mcp-auth-proxy in front of a Gateway's public endpoint to enforce authentication if the Gateway itself doesn't handle it.

TL;DR: Orchestrate many → Gateway / Expose safely & quickly → mcp-auth-proxy