Agent Skills vs MCP reference servers
Updated : the last week a score, rank or safety result on this page changed.
- Maintenance 30%1221
- Adoption 30%8460
- Docs 20%6969
- Community 20%, not measured yet––
Agent Skills scores 5 points higher. Agent Skills leads on adoption; MCP reference servers leads on maintenance.
What this does not tell you
Scores are percentiles of public GitHub signals. Nobody here tested these tools hands-on, so the higher score is not a verdict on which suits your project. Yellow marks the higher value.
Which one fits you
From measured data and licences, not from testing.
Pick Agent Skills if
- You want the more widely adopted option (adoption 84).
Pick MCP reference servers if
- Recent activity and releases matter most to you (maintenance 21).
- You need a permissive open-source licence (Apache-2.0 / MIT).
- You want to run it on your own machine (local install found in the README).
Safety side by side
Automated scan, 2 Nov 2026. Not a manual audit.
- No issues foundAgent SkillsNo issues found in this week’s scan
- No issues foundMCP reference serversNo issues found in this week’s scan
Why different labels?
A label partly reflects how much of each tool is visible and scannable, not only how risky it is. A tool without a lockfile cannot get a dependency check.
- Agent Skills: no issues found
- MCP reference servers: no issues found
Repo facts
Yellow = the higher value, where higher is better.
| Fact | Agent Skills | MCP reference servers |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 48 |
| Stars | 186,457 | 91,744 |
| Last push | 28 Oct | 29 Oct |
| Releases, 90 days | 0 | 6 |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 + proprietary | Apache-2.0 / MIT |
| Open source | Mixed license (Apache-2.0 + proprietary) | Open source |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Type | Agent skill | MCP server |
| Runs locally | unknown | yes |
| Hosted option | unknown | unknown |
“Runs locally” and “Hosted option” are read from each README automatically (or from the official docs where noted); “unknown” means no evidence was found, not that it is absent.
Questions about Agent Skills vs MCP reference servers
Answers use this week's StackGrade data.
Agent Skills or MCP reference servers: which scores higher on StackGrade?
Agent Skills scores 5 points higher in Week 45: Agent Skills 53, MCP reference servers 48 out of 100. The score combines maintenance, adoption and docs (percentiles of public GitHub signals): Agent Skills 12, 84 and 69; MCP reference servers 21, 60 and 69. Community (20% weight) is not measured yet. It is not a hands-on test, so a higher score does not say which tool suits your project.
Is Agent Skills or MCP reference servers safer to use?
Safety labels from the automated scan of 2 Nov 2026: Agent Skills: No issues found, no issues found in this week’s scan; MCP reference servers: No issues found, no issues found in this week’s scan. It is an automated scan, not a manual audit.
Which is more widely used, Agent Skills or MCP reference servers?
By GitHub stars: Agent Skills 186,457, MCP reference servers 91,744. Adoption score (percentile among all 52 tracked tools): Agent Skills 84, MCP reference servers 60. Stars are one public signal and do not measure real-world use.
Which licences do Agent Skills and MCP reference servers use?
Agent Skills: Apache-2.0 + proprietary; MCP reference servers: Apache-2.0 / MIT. Read each licence text before commercial use.
Should I pick Agent Skills or MCP reference servers?
Pick Agent Skills if you want the more widely adopted option (adoption 84). Pick MCP reference servers if recent activity and releases matter most to you (maintenance 21); you need a permissive open-source licence (Apache-2.0 / MIT); you want to run it on your own machine (local install found in the README). This comes from measured public data and licences only, not from hands-on testing.
Full comparison table, every criterion
| Agent Skillsanthropics/skills | MCP reference serversmodelcontextprotocol/servers | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 48 |
| Rank | #25 overall · #3 in use case | #29 overall · #4 in use case |
| Maintenance (30%) | 12 | 21 |
| Adoption (30%) | 84 | 60 |
| Docs (20%) | 69 | 69 |
| Community (20%) | not measured | not measured |
| Safety | No issues found | No issues found |
| License | Apache-2.0 + proprietary | Apache-2.0 / MIT |
| Open source | Mixed license (Apache-2.0 + proprietary) | Open source |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Stars | 186,457 | 91,744 |
| Last push | ||
| Type | Agent skill | MCP server |
| Runs locally | unknown | yes (README: "npx -y @") |
| Hosted option | unknown | unknown |
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