MCP runtime layer
Arcade is described as the MCP runtime between agents and the systems they need to reach, with auth, tools, and governance in one layer.
Arcade
ReclamarArcade is an MCP runtime for production AI agents, with agent authorization, reliable tools, governance, and flexible deployment from free to enterprise.
What Arcade is
Arcade is an MCP runtime for production AI agents. It sits between agents and the systems they need to reach, combining secure agent authorization, reliable tools, and governance in one layer.
The product is aimed at teams that need agents to take real actions, not just generate text. Arcade’s site frames the core problem as moving past demo-stage agents by addressing authorization, tool reliability, and auditability together.
The pricing page shows a free Hobby plan, a paid Growth plan for teams moving agents to production, and an Enterprise option with custom pricing, dedicated infrastructure, and compliance-oriented controls such as audit logs, RBAC, and SSO/SAML.
The tools catalog shows production-ready connectors across common work systems such as Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, HubSpot, Outlook, and other services, giving agents a path to execute actions in real environments.
Core capabilities
Agent authorization
Agents can act on behalf of real users with dynamic permissions, while credentials stay inside the runtime and existing identity providers plug in.
Agent-optimized tools
Arcade tools are presented as production-ready and agent-optimized, designed to map user intent to the right API call and avoid hallucinated parameters and retries.
Central governance and audit
The platform provides a central control plane for policy and audit, so every action can be traced by user and system without slowing delivery.
Stack flexibility
Arcade works with any LLM, framework, identity provider, or MCP client, which keeps the runtime flexible across existing stacks.
Broad tool catalog
The tools catalog shows a large set of available integrations across productivity, communication, developer tools, search, sales, and CRM workflows.
Where Arcade fits
User-authorized agent actions
Use Arcade when an agent needs to act on behalf of a user in systems that require permissions, so the runtime can handle authorization without exposing shared credentials.
Production tool execution
Use it when agent tool calls need to be reliable enough for production workflows, especially where bad parameter mapping or retries would waste time or tokens.
Governed agent operations
Use it when teams need a central place to define policy and review what actions an agent took across systems, users, and tool calls.
Business-system integrations
Use it when you want to connect agents to common workplace systems such as Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, HubSpot, Outlook, or similar tools from the catalog.
Incremental stack adoption
Use it when your team already has an LLM, framework, or identity provider and wants an MCP runtime that fits into the existing stack.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Combines authorization, tools, and governance in one runtime rather than splitting them across separate systems.
- Supports production use cases with dynamic permissions, audit logging, RBAC, and SSO/SAML on the enterprise tier.
- Works with existing identity providers, MCP clients, frameworks, and LLMs, which lowers the need for a stack reset.
- Offers a free entry plan and a paid production plan, which makes it easier to start small and upgrade as usage grows.
- Includes a large catalog of production-ready tools for common business systems and developer workflows.
Cons
- The source does not provide detailed setup steps or implementation requirements, so buyers may need to evaluate the integration effort directly.
- The tools catalog is broad, but the provided evidence does not fully enumerate every supported integration or its exact limits.
- Some advanced governance and compliance controls are tied to the Enterprise plan, so smaller teams may not get every capability on the lower tiers.
FAQ
What is Arcade?
Arcade is positioned as the runtime layer between AI agents and the systems they need to reach. The source describes it as combining agent authorization, reliable tools, and governance in one MCP runtime.
What does Arcade integrate with?
The source says Arcade works with any LLM, any framework, any identity provider, and any MCP client, so teams can fit it into existing agent stacks rather than rebuild around a new framework.
Does Arcade have free and enterprise options?
Arcade offers a free Hobby plan, a paid Growth plan, and an Enterprise plan with custom pricing and dedicated infrastructure. The pricing page also mentions a startup program for startups, nonprofits, educational institutions, and small companies under 100 employees.
What problems does Arcade focus on solving?
The product pages emphasize secure authorization, agent-optimized tools, and centralized governance. The pricing page also lists audit logs, RBAC, and SSO/SAML on Enterprise.
What kinds of systems can agents connect to through Arcade?
The tool catalog page shows production-ready tools across productivity, communication, developer tools, search, sales, and CRM categories, with examples such as Google Workspace apps, Slack, GitHub, HubSpot, and X.
Quick Facts
- Category
- MCP runtime for AI agents
- Website
- arcade.dev
- Pricing
- Free Hobby plan, paid Growth plan, Enterprise with custom pricing
- Primary users
- Teams building production AI agents
- Deployment
- Cloud, on-prem, air-gapped, or hybrid
- Tool coverage
- Production-ready tools across productivity, communication, developer tools, search, sales, and CRM
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