treg vs Smithery: the short answer
Both help an agent reach many tools. treg is like OpenRouter for tools: one API key and one balance for many paid APIs. treg is one token for 4,100+ tools across 126 providers, with treg holding the provider accounts, each call billed at 0% markup from one prepaid balance, and your own keys always winning. Since 31 October 2026, Smithery is a free public directory of MCP servers, run by Arcade.dev, where each server is reached directly at its vendor with your own account there. Use Smithery to find a vendor's official server, and treg for paid data through one connection.
Which one fits
Different tools fit different jobs. Here is when each one is the better choice.
Choose Smithery if
- You want to browse MCP servers for free, with no account.
- You want documentation search, developer tools and niche public-data servers.
- You want each vendor's official server, with its full set of actions.
- You want nothing between your agent and the vendor.
Choose treg if
- You want one token for keyword volume, backlinks, work emails, social profiles, ad libraries and generation, with no account at each vendor.
- You want one prepaid balance, billed per call at each provider's own rate with 0% markup.
- You want your own keys and your team's own APIs, CLIs and skills behind that token.
- You want Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn and Slack on the same token, never metered.
- You used Smithery-hosted URLs and want one hosted connection for many tools.
treg vs Smithery, side by side
Each Smithery cell restates Smithery's own public pages on 3 November 2026. "Not published" means those pages say nothing about it, not that the feature does not exist.
| Feature | treg | Smithery |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | ||
| How you pay | A prepaid team balance. Each catalog call is billed at the provider's own rate. No subscription and no seats. | Free to browse. Paid plans ended, and paying users were refunded charges since 5 August 2026. |
| Free start | $1.00 of credit, once per new verified account. No card. | Free, with no account needed to browse. |
| Fees | 0% markup, a commitment in the terms. No top-up fee. Calls on your own keys, tools and connected accounts are never metered, except X through treg's own X app, which X bills per use. | None. Smithery no longer proxies or bills calls; you pay each vendor. |
| What your agent can use | ||
| Size, in their words | 4,100+ tools across 126 providers, plus the tools your team registers. | 214 servers on the directory today. |
| Paid data with no account at the vendor | Yes: SEO and SERP data, backlinks, people and company enrichment, social profiles and posts, ad libraries, web search and scraping, image, video and voice generation. | No. You connect to each vendor's server with your own account. |
| Your own accounts | Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, Business Profile, Tag Manager, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Pinterest Ads, Snapchat Ads, YouTube, LinkedIn, Slack, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook Pages. | Through each vendor's own server. |
| Actions (writes) | Writes in your connected accounts (ad changes, Slack messages, social posts) and any API or CLI your team registers. No triggers or scheduled workflows: the agent runs the steps. | Whatever each vendor's server offers. |
| What a call returns | The provider's own answer, unchanged. Routed tools add a small wrapper and say so. | Direct from each vendor's server. |
| How your agent connects | ||
| MCP | A remote MCP server with OAuth or a token header, for Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others. | Hosted Smithery URLs stopped working on 31 October 2026. Verified entries link to the vendor's own MCP URL. |
| API, CLI and SDKs | An HTTP API (method, path, query and body reach the provider unchanged), a CLI and an agent skill. No SDKs. | The CLI, SDKs and API keys stopped working on 31 October 2026. |
| Bring your own keys | Yes, on every account. Your team's key always wins and is never metered. | Yes: you need your own account at each vendor. |
| Open source and self-host | Code on GitHub under Apache 2.0 with added terms. You can self-host for your own team; offering it as a hosted service to others needs permission. | No public repositories. |
| Control | ||
| Price before the call | Yes. Each tool's rate, with its source and the date it was checked. | Not applicable. |
| Spend limits | A team daily spend cap, a per-call cost ceiling, per-member daily call caps and daily budgets per tagged customer (advisory). No per-key hourly or lifetime caps. | Not applicable. |
| Call records | An audit log of calls with their cost, and every charge in the balance ledger. | Not published |
| Team | Teams with owner, admin, member and viewer roles, and tool access per member. | Not published |
treg's catalog size is read live from the catalog. Prices change; check each product's own pricing page before you decide.
0% additional fee.
provider rate + $0.000 markup = your priceThe trade-off
What each one does better
Where Smithery does best
- 01
Free discovery. Browsing costs nothing and needs no account.
- 02
Breadth of kinds. Documentation search, developer tools and niche public-data servers.
- 03
Official servers. Verified entries point to the vendor's own MCP endpoint, often with its full write surface.
- 04
No middle hop. Your agent talks to the vendor directly.
Where treg is the better choice
- 01
One token, many vendors. 4,100+ tools across 126 providers on treg's accounts. Your agent does not sign up at each vendor.
- 02
One bill at 0% markup. Each catalog call is billed at the provider's own rate from one prepaid balance, with its price, source and checked date shown before the call.
- 03
Your keys and tools. Your own keys win and are never metered, and your team's own APIs, CLIs and skills sit behind the same token.
- 04
Spend controls. A team daily spend cap, a per-call cost ceiling and per-member daily call caps.
- 05
Hosted and running. One remote MCP server with OAuth, an HTTP API, a CLI and an agent skill, with the code on GitHub.
Not either-or
Using Smithery and treg together
Smithery's directory is a good place to find a vendor's official MCP server. When your agent needs paid data from many vendors through one connection, treg does that job.
Give your agent
every tool in the catalog.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Smithery alternative for hosted MCP tools?
It depends on the job. treg is a Smithery alternative when an agent needs paid data from many providers through one token, with treg holding the provider accounts. Smithery points its users to Arcade.dev for hosted tools, or to each vendor's own MCP URL.
How much does Smithery cost?
Smithery pricing is free: Smithery is free to browse, with no account needed. Smithery's paid plans ended, and paying users were refunded charges since 5 August 2026. treg bills each catalog call at the provider's own rate from a prepaid balance, with 0% markup.
Is Smithery shutting down?
Partly. Smithery's MCP proxy, managed identity, hosted URLs, CLI, SDKs, accounts and API keys stopped working on 31 October 2026, after Arcade.dev acquired Smithery in August 2026. Smithery remains a public MCP directory that does not proxy calls. treg is a hosted option: a remote MCP server with OAuth, an HTTP API and a CLI.
Smithery vs treg: what is the difference?
They do different jobs. Smithery is a free directory of 214 MCP servers, where verified entries link to the vendor and you use your own account there. treg is one token for a catalog of paid tools plus your team's own keys, APIs, CLIs and skills, with a team daily spend cap and a per-call cost ceiling.
Can I use Smithery and treg together?
Yes. Smithery's directory is a good place to find a vendor's official MCP server. When your agent needs paid data from many vendors through one connection, treg does that job.
Can I self-host treg?
Yes. treg's code is on GitHub under Apache 2.0 with added terms, and you can self-host treg for your own team. Smithery does not publish a self-host option, and Smithery's GitHub organization has no public repositories.
Sources and method
- Smithery directoryhttps://smithery.ai/servers
- The future of Smitheryhttps://smithery.ai/future
- Smithery joins Arcadehttps://www.arcade.dev/blog/smithery-joins-arcade
- Arcade pricinghttps://www.arcade.dev/pricing
We read these pages on 3 November 2026. treg's own facts come from its pricing, terms and code. We left out what we could not check, and we do not guess why a product works the way it does.
Something wrong or out of date? Write to jason@treg.to and we will fix it.
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