CostBench
REMOTE · COSTBENCH.COM · SCANNED AUG 3
Verified pricing, hidden costs, negotiation data & TCO for 3,290+ software products.
Available components
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score →
Endpoint Security46
- The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
- Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 8 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Unverified
- HTTPS not yet verified: we couldn't determine whether a plaintext access path exists. View diagnostics → Unverified
- HSTS check failed: the Strict-Transport-Security header is absent. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
- DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
Transport & Reachability100
- Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake. View diagnostics → Pass
Schema Quality & AI Usability71
- AI-judged instruction clarity (good).Pass
- Tool/resource definitions use about 664 tokens (~83/item across 8 items; 8 tools + 0 resources), lean.Pass
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management27
- Stability observed for 8 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.Partial
Tool Coverage74
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 22% of tool parameters carry a description.Partial
Capabilities40
- Spec-recency check failed: implements MCP spec 2025-03-26; the latest is 2026-07-28. See how to fix → Fail
Add this component to your MCP client. Where a client-specific snippet is available, pick your client below and copy it straight into your config; otherwise use the connection detail shown.
remote · costbench.com
claude mcp add --transport http com-costbench-mcp https://costbench.com/mcp
[mcp_servers.com-costbench-mcp] url = "https://costbench.com/mcp"
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"com-costbench-mcp": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "https://costbench.com/mcp",
"enabled": true
}
}
} openclaw mcp add com-costbench-mcp --url https://costbench.com/mcp --transport streamable-http
mcp_servers:
com-costbench-mcp:
url: "https://costbench.com/mcp" {
"mcpServers": {
"com-costbench-mcp": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://costbench.com/mcp"
}
}
} The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 3 Aug 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 23 to 27. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 7 days of observed history at the previous scan, 8 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 31 Jul 26 0
- We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server See what changed → functional
- 29 Jul 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 7 to 10. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 2 days of observed history at the previous scan, 3 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 28 Jul 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 3 to 7. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 1 days of observed history at the previous scan, 2 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 27 Jul 26 0
- We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server See what changed → functional
- 26 Jul 26 53
First indexed and scored.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 3 Aug 2026 · Probed https://costbench.com/mcp
TLS valid
Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .
| Subject | Issuer | Valid from | Valid until | Key | Signature | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN=costbench.com | CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US | 19 Jul 2026 | 17 Oct 2026 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA256 | 86e9ea398e77575c0ec84de68cc83066 |
| SANs: costbench.com | ||||||
| CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US (CA) | CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US | 13 Dec 2023 | 20 Feb 2029 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA384 | 7ff31977972c224a76155d13b6d685e3 |
| CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US (CA) | CN=GlobalSign Root CA,OU=Root CA,O=GlobalSign nv-sa,C=BE | 15 Nov 2023 | 28 Jan 2028 | ECDSA 384 | SHA256-RSA | 7fe530bf331343bedd821610493d8a1b |
DNSSEC insecure
Validation of costbench.com. — Not signed
| Zone | DS | Keys | Algorithms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | trust_anchor | 20326, 38696 | 8, 8 | Verified |
| com. | present | 19718 | 13 | Verified |
| costbench.com. | absent | Unsigned (proven) parent-signed NSEC/NSEC3 proves an unsigned delegation |
Authentication No authorisation required
The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.
| Result | No authorisation required |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
Transports 2 probes
| Transport | URL | Outcome | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| streamable-http | https://costbench.com/mcp | Verified | 200 | |
| http (plaintext) | http://costbench.com/mcp | Inconclusive | 405 |
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability.
calculate_tco ~87
Total cost of ownership for a product and team size: sourced line items (licenses with price escalation, benchmark implementation), year-one + multi-year totals, effective per-seat cost. The defensible "true cost for an N-person team" answer.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| seats | number | yes | — |
| slug | string | yes | — |
| termYears | number | — | — |
| tier | string | — | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
compare_software ~44
Side-by-side pricing comparison of 2–4 products (starting price, enterprise tier, median annual cost, free tier, ratings).
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| slugs | array | yes | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
discover_software ~62
Find software products by criteria (category, max price, free tier). Returns matching slugs to look up.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| category | string | — | — |
| hasFreeTier | boolean | — | — |
| limit | number | — | — |
| maxPrice | number | — | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
estimate_llm_cost ~121
Estimate the cost of an LLM/API workload (input + output tokens) for a usage-priced provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock…) from its real rate card.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| inputTokens | number | — | Input tokens for the workload (e.g. per month). At least one of inputTokens/outputTokens must be > 0. |
| model | string | — | — |
| outputTokens | number | — | Output tokens for the workload. At least one of inputTokens/outputTokens must be > 0. |
| slug | string | yes | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
get_hidden_costs ~56
The documented hidden/implementation/add-on costs of a product (uplifts, onboarding fees, overages), each with a sourced quote + date. The "what they don't tell you" answer.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| slug | string | yes | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
get_negotiation_tips ~37
Sourced negotiation tactics for a product with success-likelihood (how to get a discount).
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| slug | string | yes | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
get_price_history ~61
Dated per-quarter snapshots of a product's pricing page. Returns observations, NOT a trend figure — CostBench does not publish one, because diffing snapshots across renamed/restructured plan lineups is ~90% measurement artifact.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| slug | string | yes | — |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
get_pricing ~82
Full sourced pricing record for a software product: tiers, hidden costs, contract terms, market data, sentiment, negotiation tips, TCO scenarios, price history — every claim with its sources + a confidence/verification envelope.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| depth | string | — | summary = numbers+sources only |
| slug | string | yes | Product slug, e.g. "salesforce" |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.