MCP server product: what to build it with and what it costs
A remote MCP server that AI apps like Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor connect to, with OAuth sign-in and usage limits.
Sample PRD
- Remote MCP endpoint
- OAuth sign-in
- Usage metering and limits
- Registry listing
What it needs
- Email and password sign-in: people sign in through OAuth to connect an AI app
- Postgres: users, tokens and usage
- Runs Docker containers (nice to have): a long-running server for Streamable HTTP
- Subscriptions (nice to have): paid plans for heavy use
MVP: about 100 users, $0/mo
Someone with an idea or a solo founder. Built with an AI app builder: describe it and it builds and hosts it.
| What | Pick | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| AI coding agent | Base44 Starter | $16 |
| Mailgun Free | $0 | |
| Payments | Stripe Standard (US cards) | $0 |
| Analytics & errors | PostHog Free | $0 |
Growth: about 10,000 users, $10.94/mo
A funded team or one with traction. Built with an AI coding agent for each of about 3 developers.
- Error tracking: know when something breaks
- Daily backups: daily backups once real people depend on it
| What | Pick | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| AI coding agent | Augment Code Standard | $20 |
| Hosting | Fly.io Machine, shared-cpu-1x with 256MB RAM | $6.19 |
| Database | Neon Launch | $1.75 |
| Sign-in | Auth0 Free | $0 |
| Amazon SES A la carte | $3 | |
| Payments | Stripe Standard (US cards) | $0 |
| Analytics & errors | PostHog Pay as you go | $0 |
First cost jump: Auth0: Free limits reached, upgrade to B2C Essentials
Scale: about 100,000 users, $135.94/mo
An established product. Built with an AI coding agent with team billing and admin for about 10 developers.
- Error tracking: know when something breaks
- Daily backups: daily backups
- Point-in-time recovery: restore to any minute after a bad deploy
- Multi-factor authentication: two-factor sign-in for accounts worth stealing
| What | Pick | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| AI coding agent | Augment Code Standard | $20 |
| Hosting | Fly.io Machine, shared-cpu-1x with 256MB RAM | $42.19 |
| Database | DigitalOcean Managed PostgreSQL Single node (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM, 30 GiB disk) | $34.75 |
| Sign-in | WorkOS AuthKit | $0 |
| Amazon SES A la carte | $30 | |
| Payments | Stripe Standard (US cards) | $0 |
| Analytics & errors | Sentry Team | $29 |
First cost jump: DigitalOcean Managed PostgreSQL: Single node (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM, 30 GiB disk) limits reached, upgrade to Single node (2 vCPU, 4 GiB RAM, 60 GiB disk)
What drives the cost
- Hosting a server that stays up
- Database for tokens and usage
- Upstream APIs your tools call
Lock-in
Low: MCP is an open protocol and OAuth is standard.
Use this in Claude (with Kong Reviews connected at https://kongreviews.com/mcp)

