Why Licensing Matters for MCP Servers
For individual developers using MCP servers on their own machines, licensing is mostly a non-issue. MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses (which cover the vast majority of MCP servers) let you use the software for any purpose without restrictions.
For organizations, licensing gets more complicated. Corporate legal teams often have approved license lists, and tools with copyleft licenses (GPL, AGPL) might not be approved. This creates a situation where an otherwise excellent MCP server can't be adopted because its license isn't on the approved list.
The Common Licenses
MIT is the most popular license for MCP servers. It's maximally permissive: use it, modify it, distribute it, do whatever you want. The only requirement is keeping the copyright notice. Most organizations approve MIT without hesitation.
Apache 2.0 is similarly permissive but adds patent grant provisions. It's common for tools produced by companies because it provides clearer legal protections. Organizations generally treat Apache 2.0 the same as MIT.
GPL variants (GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0) are copyleft licenses that require derivative works to also be open-sourced. For MCP servers that you run as standalone processes (which is the typical deployment), GPL usually doesn't create obligations because you're not distributing the software. But AGPL extends this to network use, which some organizations interpret as applying to MCP servers that handle data over a network.
Checking Before You Install
Most MCP servers list their license in the repository's LICENSE file and in the package.json or setup.py. It takes seconds to check. If your organization has license requirements, checking before installation prevents the awkward situation of building a workflow around a tool that legal later vetoes.
On Skillful.sh, license information is available as part of the tool's metadata. You can filter results by license type if your organization has specific requirements, saving you from evaluating tools that aren't licensable for your use.
When Licensing Blocks Adoption
If the best MCP server for your use case has a license your organization won't approve, you have a few options. Look for an alternatively-licensed server that serves the same purpose (there often is one, especially in popular categories). Fork the server and re-license it (only possible if the license permits this, which MIT and Apache do but GPL doesn't). Or build your own, potentially using the blocked server as reference for behavior (but not copying code).
Related Reading
- Why Open Source MCP Servers Dominate the Ecosystem
- How to Evaluate an MCP Server Before Installing It
- Building a Security-First Approach to AI Tool Adoption
Search AI tools by license on Skillful.sh. Browse MCP servers.