MCP Census: Buy vs Skip (MCP Server Vetting for Client Agent Stacks)
IF your agency ships agent stacks that install third-party MCP servers into client environments and you need a repeatable PASS/REVIEW/BLOCK/UNKNOWN gate, THEN start on the free tier (1,000 credits each UTC month, 10 anonymous lookups/day per IP) and move to builder at $19/month for 2,000 credits plus REST, MCP, stamp, and watches once audits run across more than a handful of client configs. IF you need 10,000 credits each UTC month for multi-client CI preflight and change feeds, the Team plan at $49/month is the break point; anything beyond server vetting (malware scanning, pen testing, compliance certification) sits outside what Census returns.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
MCP Census: Buy vs Skip (MCP Server Vetting for Client Agent Stacks)
“IF your agency ships agent stacks that install third-party MCP servers into client environments and you need a repeatable PASS/REVIEW/BLOCK/UNKNOWN gate, THEN start on the free tier (1,000 credits each UTC month, 10 anonymous lookups/day per IP) and move to builder at $19/month for 2,000 credits plus REST, MCP, stamp, and watches once audits run across more than a handful of client configs. IF you need 10,000 credits each UTC month for multi-client CI preflight and change feeds, the Team plan at $49/month is the break point; anything beyond server vetting (malware scanning, pen testing, compliance certification) sits outside what Census returns.”
- Your delivery team runs .mcp.json audits across several client repos and needs one verdict per entry via the /v1/audit endpoint rather than manual GitHub and npm checks
- Client agent stacks span Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, or GitHub Actions and you want the Census rule embedded in CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or .cursor/rules so servers get stamped before install
- You resell a one-time gate as a productized offer, such as the $1,800 MCP Census SMB Audit at roughly 16h setup, and need stamped evidence artifacts to hand the client
- Ongoing registry drift matters to a retainer, so the builder tier's watches and change feed (cursor-based, since-last-check) justify $19/month over ad hoc re-checks
- Your agency wants metered spend it can forecast: purchased builder credits never expire, so unused capacity carries across quiet months
- The engagement requires malware scanning, penetration testing, or formal compliance attestation, which Census explicitly does not provide and cannot be positioned as covering
- Your agents only call first-party or internally built MCP servers, so a public-evidence gate returns little beyond PASS and the free 1,000 credits go unused
- Volume stays under the free tier's 1,000 credits each UTC month and 10 anonymous lookups/day per IP, making any paid plan pure overhead
- No client workflow touches MCP servers at all, so the REST and MCP APIs have nothing to audit and the $49 Team tier buys capacity you will not consume
- The client insists on a single vendor security platform rather than a point gate, and a four-verdict lookup tool would fragment their existing review process
More on MCP Census
- StrategyWhy MCP Census Turns MCP Server Vetting Into a Billable Agency Gate
- ConceptMCP Census Verdict Triage Ladder
- Evaluation RuleMCP Census Rule: Gate Client MCP Servers Before Install, Not After the Incident
- Failure PatternThe MCP Census Verdict Drift Trap: Why Agencies Fail With MCP Census in Client Agent Delivery
- Implementation BlueprintMCP Census MCP Server Vetting Gate (5-7 days)
- Operating ProcedureMCP Census Client MCP Config Audit (Onboarding)