The Best Glama Alternative for Agencies in 2026
Glama is an all-in-one AI workspace with native MCP support for 5,000+ servers and custom agents, trusted by 50,000+ businesses, with a free version and free trial available. For agencies that want to vet and benchmark the agent skills behind those MCP connections, SkillzBench is a free, independent alternative in the same space — a directory of AI agent skills with security scanning, commit-pinned versions, and sandboxed Lift benchmarks, plus a free MCP connector.
TL;DR
- Glama is a ChatGPT-for-teams workspace with native MCP support for 5,000+ servers and custom agents, trusted by 50,000+ businesses.
- Glama offers a free version and a free trial, but no public pricing plans are listed, so budgeting for a team requires contacting them.
- Glama stores all customer data on US-based servers hosted on Fly.io, which maintains SOC 2 Type II certification.
- SkillzBench is building a free, independent directory of AI agent skills with security scanning, license checks, and commit-SHA version pinning.
- SkillzBench benchmarks every skill in a sandbox with the same model, with and without the skill, publishing the Lift in percentage points.
- Published research found ~26% of agent skills carry at least one vulnerability — the gap SkillzBench is designed to close.
- SkillzBench is pre-launch: the waitlist is live but the product is not yet public, so agencies needing something today should start with Glama's free tier.
Head to head
| Dimension | Glama | SkillzBench |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | No public pricing plans; free version and free trial available | Free — everything, funded by ads that never touch scores 🏆 |
| Ease of use | ChatGPT-like chat experience, familiar for teams | Directory browsing plus one free MCP connector with per-agent toggles |
| Features | Chat, 5,000+ MCP servers, custom agents, MCP registries | Discover, Verify, Benchmark, Equip, Stay current; Trust score 0-100; Lift benchmarks |
| MCP support | Native MCP support, access to 5,000+ servers, public registries 🏆 | One free MCP server connecting any agent to chosen skills, per-agent loadouts |
| Security & trust | US-only data storage, SOC 2 Type II hosting (Fly.io), encryption, audits | Security scanning, license checks, commit-SHA pinning; ~26% of skills carry vulnerabilities per published research |
| Setup | Sign up and chat; agents created with custom prompts | Toggle skills and tools per agent; agent only sees what was chosen |
| Maturity | Live product, 50,000+ businesses, public registries 🏆 | Pre-launch; waitlist live, product not yet public |
| Best fit | Agencies wanting a team AI workspace with broad MCP access now | Agencies wanting verified, benchmarked agent skills at zero cost |
The contenders
Glama, operated by Glama LLC (Wyoming, US), describes itself as an all-in-one AI workspace — a ChatGPT-like chat experience built for team collaboration. Its standout capability for agencies is native MCP support with access to 5,000+ MCP servers, plus the ability to create specialized agents with custom prompts. Its signup page states it is trusted by 50,000+ businesses. Glama also runs public registries of MCP servers and MCP connectors that users can submit to. The service leverages APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google alongside self-hosted models. Security-wise, all customer data is stored on servers located exclusively in the United States, hosted on Fly.io, which maintains SOC 2 Type II certification, with encryption in transit and at rest, regular security audits and penetration testing, and secure backups. A free version and free trial are available, though no public pricing plans are listed.
pricing See pricing
- + Native MCP support with access to 5,000+ servers — a broad gateway for agentic workflows
- + Custom specialized agents with custom prompts
- + Trusted by 50,000+ businesses, per its own signup page
- + Free version and free trial available
- + Strong data posture: US-only storage, encryption in transit and at rest, regular audits and penetration testing
- + Public registries make MCP servers and connectors discoverable and submittable
- − No public pricing plans listed, making team budgeting harder for agencies
- − Some features are experimental and may be modified, suspended, or discontinued at Glama's discretion
- − Monthly credits expire per its terms, and topped-up balances can also expire
- − Relies on third-party model APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) alongside self-hosted models, adding dependency risk
- − Automated content moderation can flag content, with suspension at Glama's sole discretion
SkillzBench is AIQ Labs' free, independent directory of AI agent skills plus a free MCP tool that connects any agent to the skills you choose. Agent skills — SKILL.md instruction packages for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and chat-app agents — are everywhere, but published research found ~26% of skills carry at least one vulnerability. SkillzBench is being built around five pillars: Discover (continuously crawl and dedupe skills from GitHub), Verify (pin every version to a commit SHA, validate, license-check, security-scan, and quality-judge), Benchmark (test every skill in a sandbox with the same model, with and without the skill, and publish the Lift in percentage points), Equip (one free MCP server plus per-agent loadouts, where an agent only sees the skills and tools toggled for it), and Stay current (track upstream changes, re-scan, re-benchmark, notify). A 0-100 Trust score draws on security, quality, license, maintenance and community signals; Lift is always shown separately from ratings and money never touches scores. Everything on the platform is free — the directory, MCP connector, benchmarks and alerts — funded by advertising around blog articles. SkillzBench is pre-launch: the waitlist and newsletter are live, and the product itself is not yet public.
pricing 0
- + Everything is free — directory, MCP connector, benchmarks, and alerts
- + Addresses a documented risk: published research found ~26% of skills carry at least one vulnerability
- + Independent and ad-funded — money never touches scores, and Lift is always shown separately from ratings
- + Per-agent loadouts mean an agent only sees the skills and tools explicitly chosen for it
- + Version pinning to commit SHAs plus continuous re-scanning and re-benchmarking keeps skills current
- + Works across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI and chat-app agents via a free MCP tool
- − Pre-launch — the waitlist/newsletter is live but the product is not yet public
- − No live user counts, live skill counts, or published benchmark results yet
- − Benchmark methodology (same model, with/without skill) is promising but unproven publicly until launch
- − Advertising-funded model means blog content carries ads, though ads never influence scores
Verdict
Winner: none
Glama and SkillzBench solve different halves of the same problem: Glama is the workspace and MCP gateway agencies work in, while SkillzBench (pre-launch) is the verification and benchmarking layer for the skills those agents use. They can complement rather than replace each other.
| Option | Overall | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| Glama | 7.5 | : 8: 8: 6: 7 |
| SkillzBench | 7 | : 10: 7: 4: 9 |
Who Glama is for — and why agencies switch
Where SkillzBench fits as an alternative
Cost and risk picture for a small agency
Which should you pick?
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FAQ
What is Glama, exactly?
Glama is an all-in-one AI workspace from Glama LLC (Wyoming, US) — a ChatGPT-like chat experience built for team collaboration, with native MCP support giving access to 5,000+ servers, specialized agents with custom prompts, and public MCP Server and Connector registries. Its signup page states it is trusted by 50,000+ businesses, and it uses APIs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google alongside self-hosted models.
Is SkillzBench really free?
Yes. Everything on SkillzBench is free — the skills directory, the MCP connector, benchmarks, and alerts. It earns revenue from advertising shown in and around its blog articles, never by charging users, and ad money never influences scores or listings. Note that SkillzBench is pre-launch: the waitlist and newsletter are live, but the product itself is not yet public.
Why do agent skills need verification at all?
Agent skills — SKILL.md instruction packages for tools like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Gemini CLI — are published everywhere, but published research found roughly 26% of skills carry at least one vulnerability. SkillzBench addresses this by pinning every version to a commit SHA, validating, license-checking, security-scanning, and quality-judging each skill, then benchmarking it in a sandbox to measure whether it actually improves output.
Can I use Glama and SkillzBench together?
Yes, and that's arguably the strongest setup. Glama gives your agency a live team workspace with native MCP access to 5,000+ servers, while SkillzBench's free MCP tool and per-agent loadouts let you equip only verified, benchmarked skills — so each agent sees exactly the skills and tools you chose for it. They solve different halves of the same agentic workflow.
Does Glama have a free trial or free version?
Yes — a free version and a free trial are available for Glama. However, Glama does not currently list public pricing plans, so if your agency needs to budget for paid seats, you'll need to visit Glama's site and inquire directly about current plan options.
How does SkillzBench keep scores honest?
SkillzBench publishes a 0-100 Trust score built from security, quality, license, maintenance, and community signals, and always shows Lift — the measured improvement from a skill, in percentage points — separately from ratings. The platform is funded by advertising around blog articles, and money never touches scores or listings, so there's no pay-to-rank dynamic.