MCP servers
MCP hosting by trust boundary
MCP hosting is an application-security and operations decision before it is a compute decision. The host needs the right credential boundary, transport, tenancy, and audit trail.
The short answer
Use a managed application runtime for a stateless remote MCP server with standard HTTP transport. Use a private network or customer-local process when the server holds sensitive credentials or reaches internal systems.
Where your responsibility starts
VPS
| Hardware | Provider |
|---|---|
| Virtual machine | Provider |
| Operating system | Your team |
| Container runtime | Your team |
| Your app | Your team |
| Your data | Your team |
PaaS
| Hardware | Provider |
|---|---|
| Virtual machine | Provider |
| Operating system | Provider |
| Container runtime | Provider |
| Your app | Your team |
| Your data | Your team |
Managed Kubernetes
| Hardware | Provider |
|---|---|
| Virtual machine | Provider |
| Operating system | Your team |
| Container runtime | Your team |
| Your app | Your team |
| Your data | Your team |
Bare metal
| Hardware | Provider |
|---|---|
| Virtual machine | Your team |
| Operating system | Your team |
| Container runtime | Your team |
| Your app | Your team |
| Your data | Your team |
Priced from published plans
What each kind of hosting costs for an MCP server kept running all month
These rows price an MCP server kept running all month. The HTTP transport does not require that: a response can stream inside a single request, and session state can live in a database rather than in the server, so a server that answers each request on its own can run on request-billed hosting that scales to zero. You need the month of runtime when the server keeps sessions in its own memory, or holds a long-lived event stream open to send messages the client did not ask for. The trust boundary above decides which of these rows you are allowed to use; this decides what the row costs.
Workload priced: One always-on instance at 2 vCPU and 4 GB, 100 GB egress. No disk, no database.
| Kind of hosting | Lowest complete bill | Provider and plan | Providers priced | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPS | $6.00 | Tencent Cloud Lighthouse starter linux 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 60 GB | 11 providers · 4 more listed without a price | 16 Oct 2026 |
| PaaS | $21.43 | Koyeb eco-large | 2 providers · 3 more listed without a price | 16 Oct 2026 |
Each figure is the cheapest plan of that kind for which we could confirm every required charge for this workload, read from the provider's own page, most recently on 16 Oct 2026. It is not a recommendation: we know what a provider bills, not whether a plan runs your stack. Kubernetes and Serverless container have no complete bill for this workload, so they are shown without a number rather than estimated. Compare every provider on your own workload.
Compare the options
Compare the options that fit this decision
| Pattern | Fit | Credential boundary | Operate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local stdio | Single-user desktop integration | User machine | Packaging and updates |
| Managed HTTP service | Stateless shared tools | Service secret store | Auth, tenancy, audit, limits |
| Private network service | Internal systems and data | Private environment | Network path and identity |
What changes the answer
What changes the answer
- 01Place credentials in the smallest trust boundary that can perform the tool call.
- 02Separate tenants when tool credentials or data access differ.
- 03Log tool identity, outcome, latency, and policy decision without logging secrets.
- 04Treat local stdio and remote HTTP as different deployment products.
Bill and sources
At these inputs: the same formula, assumptions and sources every visitor sees.
Use a managed application runtime for a stateless remote MCP server with standard HTTP transport. Use a private network or customer-local process when the server holds sensitive credentials or reaches internal systems.
Formula
Monthly infrastructure bill = runtime + network + secret management + observability. Optional and separate, never ranked: policy operations and incident response at your own team rate.
Assumptions
- Remote HTTP transport for shared service
- No protocol-specific hosting premium
- Priced as one always-on container; team time excluded
Explicit unknowns
- Tool-call volume
- Tenant isolation requirement
- Credential rotation and audit burden