CostBench

Verified pricing, hidden costs, negotiation data & TCO for 3,290+ software products.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Not yet automatically verified

We haven't yet run this listing's install command through our automated sandbox check. This isn't a red flag — we're steadily working through the catalog.

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench-2": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Capabilities & Tool Schemas (9)Self-reported

Inspect callable tools, capabilities, and parameters exposed to AI agents by CostBench.

get_pricing

Full sourced pricing record for a product: tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, market data, sentiment, negotiation tips, TCO scenarios, and price history — each claim with its sources. Args: `slug`, optional `depth` (`summary`\

get_hidden_costs

The documented hidden / implementation / add-on costs (uplifts, onboarding fees, overages), each with a sourced quote + date. Args: `slug`.

get_negotiation_tips

Sourced negotiation tactics with success-likelihood. Args: `slug`.

get_price_history

Per-quarter price snapshots + trend — has the price changed? Args: `slug`.

compare_software

Side-by-side pricing for 2–4 products (starting price, median annual cost, free tier, ratings). Args: `slugs` (array).

discover_software

Find products by `category`, `maxPrice`, `hasFreeTier`. Returns matching slugs to look up.

Documentation Overview

CostBench MCP Server

Verified software-pricing intelligence for any MCP client — true costs, hidden fees, negotiation data, price history, side-by-side comparisons, a dated price-change feed, and total cost of ownership for 3,390+ products. Read-only, free, no API key, no signup.

Powered by CostBench.com. Every figure the server returns carries its source and date — the data is only as trustworthy as its provenance, so CostBench publishes the provenance with each number. Responses include an attribution field and per-entity links back to the sourced page.

Tools

Tool	Description
`get_pricing`	Full sourced pricing record for a product: tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, market data, sentiment, negotiation tips, TCO scenarios, and price history — each claim with its sources. Args: `slug`, optional `depth` (`summary`\|`full`).
`get_hidden_costs`	The documented hidden / implementation / add-on costs (uplifts, onboarding fees, overages), each with a sourced quote + date. Args: `slug`.
`get_negotiation_tips`	Sourced negotiation tactics with success-likelihood. Args: `slug`.
`get_price_history`	Per-quarter price snapshots + trend — has the price changed? Args: `slug`.
`compare_software`	Side-by-side pricing for 2–4 products (starting price, median annual cost, free tier, ratings). Args: `slugs` (array).
`discover_software`	Find products by `category`, `maxPrice`, `hasFreeTier`. Returns matching slugs to look up.
`calculate_tco`	Total cost of ownership for a product and team size: sourced line items, year-one + multi-year totals, effective per-seat cost. Args: `slug`, `seats`, optional `tier`, `termYears`.
`estimate_llm_cost`	Cost of an LLM/API workload (input + output tokens) for a usage-priced provider, from its real rate card. Args: `slug`, `inputTokens`, `outputTokens`, optional `model`.
`get_price_changes`	Recent pricing changes CostBench detected against vendor pricing pages — dated, before/after bands, source link. Args: optional `slug`, `category`, `days` (default 30), `limit` (default 25). Same data as the public feed at `https://costbench.com/data/pricing-changes.json`.

All tools are read-only (readOnlyHint: true). Products are addressed by slug (e.g. salesforce, microsoft-teams, openai-api); use discover_software if you don't know one.

Option 1 — Remote endpoint (recommended, no install)

The server is hosted at https://costbench.com/mcp using streamable HTTP transport (MCP spec 2025-03-26). If your client supports remote MCP servers, point it straight at the endpoint:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://costbench.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

Terminal

claude mcp add --transport http costbench https://costbench.com/mcp

Option 2 — Local stdio server (this package)

For clients that only speak stdio, this package bridges stdio ↔ the hosted endpoint:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or clone and run directly:

bash

git clone https://github.com/aadilr/costbench-mcp.git
cd costbench-mcp
npm install
node index.js

Option 3 — Agent Skill / Claude Code plugin

This repo doubles as an Agent Skill and Claude Code plugin.

Any skills-capable agent (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and more):

Terminal

npx skills add aadilr/costbench-mcp

Claude Code plugin (bundles the MCP server + the skill):

Code

/plugin marketplace add aadilr/costbench-mcp
/plugin install costbench@costbench

The software-pricing skill prefers the MCP tools when connected and otherwise falls back to a bundled script (skills/software-pricing/scripts/pricing.sh) that talks to the hosted endpoint over plain HTTPS — no MCP client required.

Option 4 — Docker

Terminal

docker build -t costbench-mcp .
docker run -i --rm costbench-mcp

Quick test

bash

# List the tools
curl -X POST https://costbench.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

# Get pricing for a product
curl -X POST https://costbench.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_pricing","arguments":{"slug":"salesforce","depth":"summary"}}}'

The get_pricing call above returns a record like:

config.json

{
  "slug": "salesforce",
  "name": "Salesforce",
  "category": { "slug": "crm", "name": "CRM" },
  "priceRange": { "low": 0, "median": 100, "high": 550, "currency": "USD" },
  "priceUnit": "user/month",
  "tiers": [
    { "name": "Starter Suite", "priceMonthly": 25, "priceAnnual": 300, "priceUnit": "user/month" },
    { "name": "Pro Suite", "priceMonthly": 100, "priceAnnual": 1200, "priceUnit": "user/month" }
  ],
  "attribution": "Source: CostBench (https://costbench.com) — verified, sourced software pricing intelligence."
}

What's in the data


Products	3,390+
Categories	255
Comparisons	5,850+
Coverage	Tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, negotiation data, price history, TCO, LLM rate cards

Each field carries a license marker (owned | restricted): CostBench's own sourced research is owned; a small number of third-party market-data medians are restricted — surfaceable to a user but not licensed for commercial redistribution.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
`COSTBENCH_MCP_URL`	`https://costbench.com/mcp`	Override the upstream endpoint

Privacy & limits

No authentication or account required. All tools are read-only — the server never writes anything.
Per-IP rate limiting: 60 requests/minute.
Data is sourced and dated; cite the links.page URL a response returns, not the bare number.

License

MIT

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Finance & Fintech View all alternatives

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

npm downloads

34M

Package downloads in the last 30 days.

Last commit

1mo ago

Most recent push to the default branch.

Tools exposed

Callable tools this server registers over MCP.

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about CostBench

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "costbench": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y","github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"] } }

AllMCPs Directory Badge

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Markdown (GitHub README)

[![AllMCPs](https://allmcps.com/api/badge/costbench-2?style=directory)](https://allmcps.com/mcp/costbench-2)

HTML Embed

<a href="https://allmcps.com/mcp/costbench-2"><img src="https://allmcps.com/api/badge/costbench-2?style=directory" alt="CostBench on AllMCPs" /></a>

Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryFinance & Fintech

10/14 checks healthy over the last 45d

55Quality signal: Good · 55/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership10/20

Documentation & tools25/30

Adoption & activity6/15

Community engagement0/10

A guidance signal from public completeness & health data — not a user rating. New listings start lower and rise as they add docs, get verified, and grow adoption. Signals we can't observe for a listing are skipped, not counted against it.

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 3d ago via OSV.dev · github:aadilr/costbench-mcp (npm)

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Explore more

More in 💰 Finance & Fintech →Best MCP servers for Finance & Fintech →Alternatives to CostBench →Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code Setup guides for all 13 MCP clients

CostBench

Verified pricing, hidden costs, negotiation data & TCO for 3,290+ software products.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Not yet automatically verified

We haven't yet run this listing's install command through our automated sandbox check. This isn't a red flag — we're steadily working through the catalog.

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench-2": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Capabilities & Tool Schemas (9)Self-reported

Inspect callable tools, capabilities, and parameters exposed to AI agents by CostBench.

get_pricing

get_hidden_costs

The documented hidden / implementation / add-on costs (uplifts, onboarding fees, overages), each with a sourced quote + date. Args: `slug`.

get_negotiation_tips

Sourced negotiation tactics with success-likelihood. Args: `slug`.

get_price_history

Per-quarter price snapshots + trend — has the price changed? Args: `slug`.

compare_software

Side-by-side pricing for 2–4 products (starting price, median annual cost, free tier, ratings). Args: `slugs` (array).

discover_software

Find products by `category`, `maxPrice`, `hasFreeTier`. Returns matching slugs to look up.

Documentation Overview

CostBench MCP Server

Tools

Tool	Description
`get_pricing`	Full sourced pricing record for a product: tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, market data, sentiment, negotiation tips, TCO scenarios, and price history — each claim with its sources. Args: `slug`, optional `depth` (`summary`\|`full`).
`get_hidden_costs`	The documented hidden / implementation / add-on costs (uplifts, onboarding fees, overages), each with a sourced quote + date. Args: `slug`.
`get_negotiation_tips`	Sourced negotiation tactics with success-likelihood. Args: `slug`.
`get_price_history`	Per-quarter price snapshots + trend — has the price changed? Args: `slug`.
`compare_software`	Side-by-side pricing for 2–4 products (starting price, median annual cost, free tier, ratings). Args: `slugs` (array).
`discover_software`	Find products by `category`, `maxPrice`, `hasFreeTier`. Returns matching slugs to look up.
`calculate_tco`	Total cost of ownership for a product and team size: sourced line items, year-one + multi-year totals, effective per-seat cost. Args: `slug`, `seats`, optional `tier`, `termYears`.
`estimate_llm_cost`	Cost of an LLM/API workload (input + output tokens) for a usage-priced provider, from its real rate card. Args: `slug`, `inputTokens`, `outputTokens`, optional `model`.
`get_price_changes`	Recent pricing changes CostBench detected against vendor pricing pages — dated, before/after bands, source link. Args: optional `slug`, `category`, `days` (default 30), `limit` (default 25). Same data as the public feed at `https://costbench.com/data/pricing-changes.json`.

All tools are read-only (readOnlyHint: true). Products are addressed by slug (e.g. salesforce, microsoft-teams, openai-api); use discover_software if you don't know one.

Option 1 — Remote endpoint (recommended, no install)

The server is hosted at https://costbench.com/mcp using streamable HTTP transport (MCP spec 2025-03-26). If your client supports remote MCP servers, point it straight at the endpoint:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://costbench.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

Terminal

claude mcp add --transport http costbench https://costbench.com/mcp

Option 2 — Local stdio server (this package)

For clients that only speak stdio, this package bridges stdio ↔ the hosted endpoint:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "costbench": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or clone and run directly:

bash

git clone https://github.com/aadilr/costbench-mcp.git
cd costbench-mcp
npm install
node index.js

Option 3 — Agent Skill / Claude Code plugin

This repo doubles as an Agent Skill and Claude Code plugin.

Any skills-capable agent (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and more):

Terminal

npx skills add aadilr/costbench-mcp

Claude Code plugin (bundles the MCP server + the skill):

Code

/plugin marketplace add aadilr/costbench-mcp
/plugin install costbench@costbench

Option 4 — Docker

Terminal

docker build -t costbench-mcp .
docker run -i --rm costbench-mcp

Quick test

bash

# List the tools
curl -X POST https://costbench.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

# Get pricing for a product
curl -X POST https://costbench.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_pricing","arguments":{"slug":"salesforce","depth":"summary"}}}'

The get_pricing call above returns a record like:

config.json

{
  "slug": "salesforce",
  "name": "Salesforce",
  "category": { "slug": "crm", "name": "CRM" },
  "priceRange": { "low": 0, "median": 100, "high": 550, "currency": "USD" },
  "priceUnit": "user/month",
  "tiers": [
    { "name": "Starter Suite", "priceMonthly": 25, "priceAnnual": 300, "priceUnit": "user/month" },
    { "name": "Pro Suite", "priceMonthly": 100, "priceAnnual": 1200, "priceUnit": "user/month" }
  ],
  "attribution": "Source: CostBench (https://costbench.com) — verified, sourced software pricing intelligence."
}

What's in the data


Products	3,390+
Categories	255
Comparisons	5,850+
Coverage	Tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, negotiation data, price history, TCO, LLM rate cards

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
`COSTBENCH_MCP_URL`	`https://costbench.com/mcp`	Override the upstream endpoint

Privacy & limits

No authentication or account required. All tools are read-only — the server never writes anything.
Per-IP rate limiting: 60 requests/minute.
Data is sourced and dated; cite the links.page URL a response returns, not the bare number.

License

MIT

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Finance & Fintech View all alternatives

Adoption & maintenance

Factual signals from GitHub, npm, and our automated checks — not a rating.

npm downloads

34M

Package downloads in the last 30 days.

Last commit

1mo ago

Most recent push to the default branch.

Tools exposed

Callable tools this server registers over MCP.

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about CostBench

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "costbench": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y","github:aadilr/costbench-mcp"] } }

AllMCPs Directory Badge

Full Badge Customizer

Showcase your server listing on GitHub or your project documentation. Embed this dynamic SVG badge to highlight official listing status and live engagement.

Badge Style:

Live Dynamic SVG Preview

Markdown (GitHub README)

[![AllMCPs](https://allmcps.com/api/badge/costbench-2?style=directory)](https://allmcps.com/mcp/costbench-2)

HTML Embed

<a href="https://allmcps.com/mcp/costbench-2"><img src="https://allmcps.com/api/badge/costbench-2?style=directory" alt="CostBench on AllMCPs" /></a>

Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryFinance & Fintech

10/14 checks healthy over the last 45d

55Quality signal: Good · 55/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership10/20

Documentation & tools25/30

Adoption & activity6/15

Community engagement0/10

Supply-chain signal

No high-severity advisories surfaced by our automated scan.

Critical 0High 0Medium 0Low 0

Scanned 3d ago via OSV.dev · github:aadilr/costbench-mcp (npm)

★ Featured

AllMCPs Server

Explore Server →

Own this project?

Free dofollow backlink: add your website and place the AllMCPs badge on it — no claim needed. We detect it automatically and keep it verified as long as the badge stays live.

Claim & get free dofollow

Share & Embed

Add our SVG badge (dark/light directory styles) or embeddable widget to your site.