Model Context Protocol servers you can actually run yourself.
I kept running into the same thing: I'd find a promising MCP server, wire it up, and only then realize it was just a shell around some company's paid API. Cancel the subscription and it's a brick. Most of the big MCP lists are full of these.
So I started keeping my own list, and this is it — only servers you can actually run yourself. Open source, self-hosted, your data stays on your machine. If a tool only works by calling home to someone else's cloud, it's not here. That's the whole rule, and everything below has been checked against it by hand.
Three tests, all required. Miss one and it's off the list — no matter how good the tool is.
Self-hostable— you run the server yourself, with no mandatory vendor endpoint in the loop.** Open source**— a real FOSS license; source you can audit before you hand it tool access.** No lock-in**— it doesn't die without a paid proprietary backend, and your data isn't stranded on someone else's servers.
Cut on purpose: cloud-only servers you can't run yourself, source-available-but-not-OSI projects (e.g. n8n's Sustainable Use License), and open clients that are useless without a paid API. Fine tools — just not open, so not here.
A note in
| flag | meaning |
|---|---|
| needs Docker, a database, or several services running before first use | |
| exposes dozens of tools, crowding your context window |
· Query Brave's Search, Summarizer, and Local APIs from an MCP serverBrave Search - · Self-hosted LLM-friendly web crawler and scraper with a built-in Docker MCP bridge exposing crawl, scrape, and markdown-extraction tools ·Crawl4AI$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Search DuckDuckGo and fetch/parse page content into clean text with no API key neededDuckDuckGo - · Official reference MCP server that fetches a URL and converts its content to markdown for LLM consumptionFetch -
· Manage indexes, documents and settings and run searches on a self-hosted Meilisearch instance[Meilisearch](https://github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch-mcp) -
· Multi-engine web search MCP server scraping Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave, Startpage and more with no API keys required[Open WebSearch](https://github.com/Aas-ee/open-webSearch) -
· Query a self-hosted or public SearXNG metasearch instance for private, ad-free web search results[SearXNG](https://github.com/ihor-sokoliuk/mcp-searxng)
· Lets AI agents drive a locally running browser to complete multi-step web tasks, exposed as an MCP serverBrowser Use - · Streams live browser console logs, network requests, and screenshots from a Chrome extension into an MCP-compatible IDE ·BrowserTools$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Controls a local Chrome instance for performance tracing, network inspection, and DOM debugging via the Chrome DevTools ProtocolChrome DevTools - · Runs a full computer-use agent driving sandboxed macOS/Windows/Linux VMs for cross-OS desktop control ·Computer-Use Agent (CUA)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ ·$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · Gives an agent terminal control, filesystem search, and diff-based file editing on your local desktopDesktop Commander - · Drives a real Chromium/Firefox/WebKit browser via Playwright's accessibility tree for navigation, form filling, and scrapingPlaywright -
· Automate browser workflows with vision-and-LLM-driven agents instead of brittle selectorsSkyvern #
· Zero-dependency SQL gateway MCP server for Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server and SQLite with read-only mode and query guardrailsDBHub - · Go-based multi-database MCP server supporting concurrent MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle and TimescaleDB connections with schema and performance tools ·FreePeak DB$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · Official MCP server exposing collection search, insert, and query tools for a self-hosted Milvus vector database ·Milvus$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Query and federate data across many databases and sources through a self-hosted MCP-enabled server ·[MindsDB](https://github.com/mindsdb/mindsdb)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Runs SQL analytics over local, in-memory, or S3-hosted DuckDB files with no MotherDuck account required[MotherDuck / DuckDB](https://github.com/motherduckdb/mcp-server-motherduck) -
· Enables secure, configurable read/write SQL access to a self-hosted MySQL databaseMySQL - · Run Cypher queries and manage graph data and schema on a self-hosted Neo4j databaseNeo4j - · Runs against your own Postgres to give schema introspection, EXPLAIN-based query tuning, index advice, and configurable read/write SQL accessPostgres MCP Pro - · Official MCP server for storing and semantically searching data in a self-hosted Qdrant vector database ·Qdrant$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Natural-language interface to manage, query, and inspect data in a Redis instance ·[Redis](https://github.com/redis/mcp-redis)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Manage Supabase projects, tables, and queries from an MCP server[Supabase](https://github.com/supabase/mcp) -
· Connect an agent to Postgres, MySQL, Spanner, and other databases through a shared open toolboxToolbox for Databases -
· Vector database with a native MCP endpoint you enable and self-host via a single environment variable ·Weaviate$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ #
· Built-in service letting AI agents query and manage dashboards, charts, and datasets on a self-hosted Superset instance ·Apache Superset$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Official MCP server for running read/write SQL queries and browsing schema on a self-hosted ClickHouse cluster ·ClickHouse$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Official server running dbt Core CLI commands, codegen, and local lineage/manifest introspection for a dbt projectdbt -
· Query and manage self-hosted Grafana dashboards, datasources, alerts, and incidents via its API ·[Grafana](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-grafana)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ -
· Discover labels and run LogQL queries against a self-hosted Grafana Loki instance[Grafana Loki](https://github.com/incu6us/loki-mcp-server) -
· Query and analyze OpenTelemetry traces from self-hosted Jaeger or Tempo backends for debugging and LLM observabilityOpenTelemetry (Traceloop) -
· Query and analyze metrics from a self-hosted Prometheus server using PromQLPrometheus #
· Exposes ast-grep structural code search and codemod rewriting as MCP tools[ast-grep](https://github.com/ast-grep/ast-grep-mcp) -
· Run arbitrary shell commands or direct executables on the host machine via a runProcess tool[Commands](https://github.com/g0t4/mcp-server-commands) -
· Crawl and index any tech documentation site into a private, searchable MCP knowledge base ·[DevDocs](https://github.com/cyberagiinc/DevDocs)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Read, write, edit, move, search, and manage files and directories on the local filesystem with configurable root access controlFilesystem - · Official reference MCP server exposing local git operations like status, diff, commit, and logGit -
· Self-hosted server exposing GitHub repository, issue, PR, and code-search operations to MCP clients ·[GitHub](https://github.com/github/github-mcp-server)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ -
· Wraps any language server to expose LSP definitions, references, rename, and diagnostics as MCP tools[Language Server (LSP)](https://github.com/isaacphi/mcp-language-server) -
· Convert PDFs, Office docs, images, and more to markdown for LLM consumptionMarkItDown -
· Turn any local or remote OpenAPI specification into callable MCP tools, prompts, and resources[OpenAPI](https://github.com/ivo-toby/mcp-openapi-server) -
· Convert documents between Markdown, HTML, PDF, DOCX, and other formats using local Pandoc ·[Pandoc](https://github.com/vivekVells/mcp-pandoc)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Structures dynamic, revisable step-by-step reasoning for complex problem solvingSequential Thinking - · Provides LSP-based semantic code retrieval and editing tools (find symbol, references, rename) across languages ·Serena$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · Execute a whitelisted set of shell commands with stdin support through a secure argv-based MCP interfaceShell Server
· Runs Helm CLI operations (install, upgrade, list, repo management) against a Kubernetes cluster ·Helm$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Native Go MCP server for Kubernetes and OpenShift cluster management with no external CLI dependencyKubernetes - · Manages Kubernetes clusters via kubectl/helm, covering pods, deployments, services, and manifests ·Kubernetes (Flux159)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · Lets agents search Terraform registry providers/modules and run Terraform IaC workflows against your own infrastructure ·Terraform$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· A collection of purpose-built MCP servers for AWS services like S3, Lambda, and CDK[AWS](https://github.com/awslabs/mcp) -
· Manage Cloudflare Workers, KV, R2, and DNS from an MCP server[Cloudflare](https://github.com/cloudflare/mcp-server-cloudflare) -
· Wraps the gcloud CLI so agents can inspect and manage Google Cloud resources with your own credentials ·Google Cloud (gcloud)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· Query and manage accounts, transactions and budgets in a self-hosted Actual Budget instance via MCP[Actual Budget](https://github.com/s-stefanov/actual-mcp) -
· Bridge MCP clients to 100+ cryptocurrency exchanges via CCXT for market data and trading using your own exchange API keys[CCXT (crypto exchanges)](https://github.com/lazy-dinosaur/ccxt-mcp) -
· Manage accounts, transactions, budgets and rules in a self-hosted Firefly III personal-finance instance through MCP ·Firefly III$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Read and manage portfolio holdings, performance and market data in a self-hosted Ghostfolio instance ·Ghostfolio$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Expose Stripe payments, invoices, subscriptions and customer operations as MCP tools against your own Stripe accountStripe Agent Toolkit
· Connects an LLM to a running Blender instance for prompt-driven 3D scene creation, modeling, and scripting ·Blender$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Gives AI agents programmatic tools to create, edit, and export diagrams on a synced Excalidraw canvas ·Excalidraw$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Fetches Figma file layout, styles, and component data as structured context for AI coding agents[Figma (Framelink)](https://github.com/GLips/Figma-Context-MCP) -
· Lets an LLM drive the open-source FreeCAD parametric CAD application to create and edit 3D models ·[FreeCAD](https://github.com/neka-nat/freecad-mcp)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Runs local computer-vision models to detect, crop, blur, OCR, and otherwise edit images without any cloud APIImageSorcery -
· Bridges AI assistants to the Unity Editor to manage assets, control scenes, edit scripts, and automate tasks ·Unity$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ #
· MCP server that builds a persistent, bidirectional knowledge base from local Markdown files so an AI can read and write durable memoryBasic Memory - · Self-hosted temporal knowledge-graph memory engine for agents, running on your own Neo4j/FalkorDB instance via Docker ·Graphiti$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Search, read and write notes in a Joplin instance through its local data APIJoplin - · Local-first fork of the reference memory server that stores a persistent knowledge graph in a configurable local JSONL fileKnowledge Graph Memory - · Read, write and query a local Logseq knowledge graph via its Local HTTP APILogseq - · Persistent knowledge-graph memory for an LLM backed by a local JSON file, with entities/relations/observations toolsMemory (knowledge graph) - · Official Neo4j Labs MCP server that persists entities and relations as a knowledge graph in a self-run Neo4j database ·Neo4j Memory$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Read, search and edit notes in a local Obsidian vault via the Local REST API community plugin ·Obsidian$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Self-hostable local memory layer with an MCP server, Postgres/Qdrant storage, and a UI for browsing stored memories across MCP clients ·OpenMemory$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· Read and write Notion pages, databases, and blocks via the Notion API[Notion](https://github.com/makenotion/notion-mcp-server) -
· Manage issues, cycles and modules on a self-hosted Plane project-management instance ·[Plane](https://github.com/ZethicTech/plane-mcp-server)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ -
· Manage tasks in the local Taskwarrior CLI task manager[Taskwarrior](https://github.com/awwaiid/mcp-server-taskwarrior) -
· Manage projects, tasks and labels on a self-hosted Vikunja instance ·[Vikunja](https://github.com/democratize-technology/vikunja-mcp)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· Manage CalDAV calendars and tasks (list, create, update, delete events and VTODOs) against any CalDAV serverCalDAV - · Multi-account CalDAV calendar server with recurring events, tasks, journals, and bulk operations ·Chronos (CalDAV)$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · MCP server that lets AI assistants send, read, and manage messages and channels on a Discord server via a botDiscord -
· Multi-account IMAP/SMTP email agent with auto-discovery, folder organization, attachments, and threaded send/reply[Email (better-email)](https://github.com/n24q02m/better-email-mcp) -
· Read, search, organize, and send email over IMAP and SMTP for any account including self-hosted mail servers[Email (IMAP/SMTP)](https://github.com/Wh1isper/mcp-email-server) -
· Local-first MCP server giving MCP clients read/write access to Matrix rooms on any self-hosted homeserver ·Matrix$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · MCP server exposing Mattermost channels, messaging, users, and files as tools for self-hosted Mattermost instances ·Mattermost$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Self-hosted MCP server for Slack workspaces supporting channels, DMs, group DMs, and history search without requiring bot app approvalSlack - · Telegram MCP server built on Telethon for reading chats, managing groups, and sending or modifying messages, media, and contacts ·Telegram$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· MCP server exposing search, profile, feed, thread and trending-topic tools for the Bluesky/AT Protocol public AppView[Bluesky](https://github.com/cyanheads/bluesky-mcp-server) -
· MCP server for posting statuses, reading timelines, and managing accounts on any self-hosted Mastodon instance[Mastodon](https://github.com/VitexSoftware/mastodon-mcp-server) -
· Self-hosted social media scheduler with a built-in MCP server for posting and scheduling across Mastodon, Bluesky, X, LinkedIn and 20+ other networks ·Postiz$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
· Retrieves real-time US forecasts, alerts and observations from the free, no-auth National Weather Service APINWS Weather· Fetches global weather forecasts, ERA5 historical climate, marine conditions, air quality and elevation from the free, key-free Open-Meteo APIOpen-Meteo· Geocodes, reverse-geocodes, and runs Overpass spatial queries against OpenStreetMap data over STDIO or Streamable HTTPOpenStreetMap· Provides geocoding, routing, nearby-places, neighborhood analysis and EV-charging lookups against free OpenStreetMap and OSRM dataOpenStreetMap (osmmcp)· Reference server that gets the current time and converts times between IANA timezones with no external dependencyTime
· Built-in MCP server (msfmcpd) in the Metasploit Framework exposing module search, DB hosts/services/vulns/creds/loot for penetration testing ·Metasploit$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ ·$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{heavy}}$ - · Official Aqua Security plugin turning Trivy into an MCP server for local vulnerability, misconfiguration and secret scanning of code, containers and reposTrivy - · Official HashiCorp MCP server exposing your self-hosted Vault instance's secrets, mounts and policies to AI clients ·Vault$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$ - · Rust MCP server bridging a self-hosted Wazuh SIEM/Indexer to AI clients for alert and threat-context queries ·Wazuh$\textcolor{red}{\textsf{fiddly setup}}$
Last audited 2026-07-22 · 99 servers · open-source & self-hostable only · Submit a server