ToolHive vs MCPProxy:
an honest comparison.

The short answer

• Pick ToolHive if you want local MCP servers run in containers, a curated registry, or a path to Kubernetes, single sign-on and company-wide rollout. It can also proxy remote servers.
• Pick MCPProxy if you want one approved MCP layer for the coding agents on your own machine: the same servers in Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Cursor, new servers and changed tools held for your review, and each agent limited to what it needs.
• They overlap. If you only want “many servers behind one URL”, either works.

Side by side

ToolHive facts are from its README and documentation, read 2026-10-22. MCPProxy facts are from docs.mcpproxy.app.

	ToolHive	MCPProxy
License	Apache 2.0 open-source core. A Stacklok Enterprise edition is also offered	MIT
Main idea	Run locally managed MCP servers in isolated containers or proxy remote servers; registry; gateway	One local proxy with approval, change detection and scoped access
Server isolation	Locally managed servers run in containers; remote servers can be proxied without moving them into a local container	Servers run as you configure them; Docker isolation is optional for stdio servers
How you use it	Desktop app, CLI, Kubernetes operator	Web UI, macOS menu bar app, CLI
Tool discovery	Semantic tool search. ToolHive says it can cut token use by up to 85%	BM25 search through retrieve_tools. No universal savings figure
Review before a new server’s tools can run	Not found in the ToolHive README or documentation overview on 2026-10-22	Yes, with the default trust mode: a new server is held until you approve it
Detect a tool changing after approval	Not found in the README or documentation overview on 2026-10-22. They describe a vetted registry and provenance checks	Yes: tool definitions are hashed, and a change is held until reviewed (unless you set a server to auto-approve)
Per-agent access	Gateway policies; identity-based policy when you configure an auth source	Profiles, scoped agent tokens, per-client credentials
Team features	Strong: Kubernetes operator, identity provider integration, OpenTelemetry	A server edition exists; the product is built desk-first
Cloud or local	Local or Kubernetes	Local-first

“Not found” means we did not see it in the pages we read on that date (the README and the documentation overview). ToolHive may add it, and we may have missed it. Check their docs.

Where ToolHive is stronger

• Container isolation for local servers. If your main worry is what a locally run server can touch on your machine, ToolHive’s container runtime provides an isolation boundary. Proxied remote servers remain remote.
• Teams and platforms. The Kubernetes operator, identity provider integration and observability stack are aimed at platform teams. MCPProxy does not try to match that.
• Registry. A curated catalog with provenance checks is a first-class part of the platform.

Where MCPProxy is stronger

• One review step for every agent. With the default trust mode, a new server is held until you approve it, and a tool whose description or schema changes is held until you review it. An MCP client with admin access can approve held tools, so give agents scoped tokens. This covers the “rug pull” case where a server you trusted quietly changes a tool. See detect tool poisoning and rug pulls.
• Scoping each agent. Make a read-only profile, mint a token pinned to it, and give that to one agent. See per-agent MCP tools in Claude Code.
• One setup for every client. mcpproxy connect <client> writes the config for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor and others, each with its own credential. See the same MCP servers in four clients.
• Simple to run. A single binary, with Docker optional.

Can you use both?

You can. MCPProxy can use remote HTTP MCP servers as upstreams, so a server that ToolHive exposes over HTTP is a candidate. We have not tested that combination, so try it with a non-critical server first.

Try MCPProxy next to your current setup

brew install smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy/mcpproxy
mcpproxy serve

Then follow the client setup guides. Docs: profiles, quarantine, Docker isolation.