MCP licensing explained: MCP Self-hosted, add-ons and seats

MCP licensing explained in one line: you pay a yearly fee for the right to load tools on your own server, not a fee per call. MCP Self-hosted is sold as one MCP Self-hosted license plus tool add-ons. Each add-on adds an entitlement to the license, and the server only exposes the tools it holds an entitlement for. Below: why it works this way, what happens when an add-on lapses, how the grace period fits in, and how seats differ from activations.

MCP licensing explained: why a yearly license instead of usage fees?

Because the server runs on your hardware, and the license only decides which tools load. MCP Self-hosted runs in Docker on a machine you control. A tool call goes from Claude to your container and from there to your own systems: your store, your mailbox, your database. AddoCore is not in that path, so there is nothing per call to meter or bill.

The only contact with AddoCore is the license check. MCP Self-hosted sends it once at startup and then every 72 hours, as a signed request with your license key. The answer is a list of entitlements. That is the core of MCP licensing explained in practice: the price stays the same whether Claude makes ten calls a month or ten thousand, and you know next year’s cost today.

With MCP licensing explained this way, one question remains: what does the check send? It carries anonymous diagnostics: the MCP Self-hosted version, the active tools, uptime, and call and error counts per tool since the previous check. It never contains prompts, query contents, API tokens, hostnames or customer data. Those stay in the logs on your own server.

MCP licensing explained: how do entitlements work?

An entitlement is the license right for one add-on, for example tool:missive or tool:woocommerce. One published image contains every tool. At runtime the server registers only the tools your license is entitled to. Without an entitlement a tool is not exposed at all: Claude does not see it in the tool list, whatever is in your .env.

This is why buying an add-on later needs no reinstall and no new download. The add-on is added to your existing license, you get an email that lists the environment variables the tool needs, and the next license check brings the new entitlement. To skip the wait:

docker exec mcp-core npm run refresh-license

Entitlements work at two levels. The license holds the full set, and each seat gets a subset of it. For MCP licensing explained per add-on, the MCP Self-hosted add-on model lists every add-on and how it reaches the server.

MCP licensing explained: what happens when an add-on lapses?

The tool stops being exposed, and your data is not touched. When you cancel an add-on, billing stops right away, but the tool keeps working until the end of the period you paid for. After that date the entitlement is missing from the next license check, and the tool drops out of the tool list on the next request. No restart is needed.

A failed payment follows a slower path. The line shows Payment issue for 7 days while everything keeps working. If it is still unpaid after that, the line is suspended and the entitlement is removed in the same way.

Nothing is deleted on either side. MCP Self-hosted does not store your business data: orders stay in WooCommerce, conversations stay in Missive, rows stay in your database. Your .env stays on disk, and a Brain vault stays in the vault/ folder on your host. Renew the add-on and the entitlement comes back with the next check, with the same configuration as before.

MCP licensing explained: where does the 96-hour grace period fit?

The grace period covers a server that cannot reach AddoCore. It does not cover a license AddoCore refuses. The clock runs from the last successful check:

• 0 to 72 hours: the license is valid.
• 72 to 168 hours: the check is overdue, the license is in grace, and every tool keeps working.
• After 168 hours: the license counts as expired. Tools stay visible, but every call returns an error that explains why.

A real rejection skips the grace period: an unknown or revoked key, a suspended license, or a license over its activation limit blocks tool calls at once. The built-in mcp_status tool keeps working in every state, so you can ask Claude why a tool fails. The grace period also does not delay an add-on that lapsed. That check succeeded; it just returned one entitlement less. License grace period lists the states and messages.

MCP licensing explained: how do seats differ from activations?

An activation is one running mcp-core container; a seat is one identity that talks to it. They are separate limits and are counted separately.

• Activation: MCP Self-hosted includes 1. A second container on the same license is refused with the message that the license has reached its maximum number of active installations. You free the slot with Release on the Advanced tab.
• Seat: MCP Self-hosted includes 3. Each seat is one person or device with its own token, its own subset of tools and its own setting per tool: read-only or Can make changes. You set those when you add the seat in My Account → MCP Self-hosted → Seats.

So a team of five on one server needs one activation and five seats: MCP Self-hosted plus two extra seats at € 18,15 excl. VAT: € 15,00 per year each. A seat is also the unit you revoke. Regenerate or remove one token, and the other people keep working. MCP seats covers tokens, tools and modes per seat.

MCP licensing explained in numbers: what does it cost?

Each product is its own recurring line with its own renewal date:

• MCP Self-hosted: € 217,80 excl. VAT: € 180,00 per year, with 3 seats and 1 activation.
• Add-ons: from € 72,60 excl. VAT: € 60,00 per year. They are not all the same price; each product page shows its own.
• Extra seat: € 18,15 excl. VAT: € 15,00 per year.

A worked example of MCP licensing explained with real products: a support team of three that wants Claude in Missive and WooCommerce pays for MCP Self-hosted, the Missive add-on at € 72,60 excl. VAT: € 60,00 per year and the WooCommerce add-on at € 157,30 excl. VAT: € 130,00 per year. The three included seats cover the team, so no extra seats are needed. The pricing calculator adds this up for any mix.

Payment is yearly recurring through Mollie. Some products also offer monthly billing with a 12-month minimum term. EU VAT is handled at checkout, with reverse charge for B2B customers. If you would rather not run Docker, the MCP Hosted seat is billed monthly, with the first month free.

That is MCP licensing explained: a fixed yearly price, tools by entitlement, data that stays where it is when an add-on ends, and a grace period for network trouble. Everything is managed under My Account → MCP Self-hosted, and changes reach the server with the next license check or the refresh command. Read the add-on model for the details, then put your own setup in the pricing calculator.