Stop guessing which one. Put them side by side.

The grid says what these tools are. This says what builders did about it — one decision per person, changeable whenever you change your mind.

# Tool comparison — Glama MCP Directory vs Chrome DevTools MCP vs Cline MCP Marketplace

Source: Kbaise, a directory of tools that work with Lovable projects.
Pick one and tell me why before writing any integration code.

## Glama MCP Directory (glama-mcp-directory)
- URL: https://glama.ai/mcp/servers
- Category: MCP servers & registries
- Cost: mixed — Free to browse · Glama plans from $9/mo add hosted servers
- What it is: Claims the most comprehensive MCP registry, indexing 73,021 servers and refreshed daily. Unlike plain lists it attaches a license, a quality rating, an A-to-F maintenance grade and GitHub activity to each entry, and ships an MCP Inspector for evaluation. Paid plans add hosted MCP servers and chat/API access.
- Why builders pick it: The maintenance grade and license column answer the question other directories dodge: is this thing abandoned, and may I legally use it? Sort by grade before installing anything community-built.
- Trap: The A-to-F grade measures maintenance activity, not security. A diligently maintained server can still read your environment variables and phone home.
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/glama-mcp-directory

## Chrome DevTools MCP (chrome-devtools-mcp)
- URL: https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp
- Category: MCP servers & registries
- Cost: free — Free, open source
- What it is: Maintained by Google's Chrome DevTools team. It lets a coding agent control and inspect a live Chrome browser with full DevTools access: performance traces and insights, console messages with source-mapped stack traces, network request inspection, screenshots, DOM interaction, Lighthouse audits and memory debugging.
- Why builders pick it: Closes the loop where the agent writes frontend code but cannot see the result. It reads the real console error and the real network waterfall instead of asking you to paste a screenshot.
- Trap: If you attach it to an existing Chrome instance it drives your real profile and logged-in sessions — never point it at anything sensitive. Performance traces return very large payloads.
- Wiring: claude mcp add chrome-devtools --scope user npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/chrome-devtools-mcp

## Cline MCP Marketplace (cline-mcp-marketplace)
- URL: https://github.com/cline/mcp-marketplace
- Category: MCP servers & registries
- Cost: free — Free
- What it is: A curated marketplace built into the Cline VS Code extension. Authors submit a server via GitHub issue with a repo URL and logo; reviewers weigh community adoption, developer credibility, project maturity and security, usually within a couple of days. On install, Cline handles setup and configuration autonomously.
- Why builders pick it: Removes the config-file step entirely — pick a server in the sidebar and the agent installs and wires it up. The human review gate makes it far safer than pulling from a 70,000-entry index.
- Trap: Only useful if you already use Cline, and the curated list is a tiny fraction of what Smithery or Glama index.
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/cline-mcp-marketplace

## Quick read

- Free with no card: Chrome DevTools MCP, Cline MCP Marketplace.

## Rules
1. Prefer the free tier when no budget was stated, and say what the ceiling is.
2. Read the full dossier before integrating.
3. Fetch /api/public/models before writing any AI model ID.

Agents can fetch the same thing: GET /api/public/compare?slugs=glama-mcp-directory,chrome-devtools-mcp,cline-mcp-marketplace