Should You Build Your Integration Layer or Adopt One?

If your organization is exploring MCP server gateways, you’re probably asking yourself: Should we build our own or use a pre-built solution? Both are possible, but the choice impacts time, cost, scalability, and maintenance.

Here’s a clear look at what each path involves, with examples to help make the decision more concrete.

Challenges of Building Your Own MCP Gateway

Building your own gateway gives you full control, but it’s a significant undertaking. Key challenges include:

• Identity and Access Management

  • Set up OAuth, token rotation, and refresh flows.

  • Support Single Sign-On (SSO).

  • Implement multi-tenant role-based access control if different teams are using the gateway.

For instance, one company had to integrate the gateway with their HR system so employee access would automatically provision and revoke; manual management would have been a nightmare.

• Communication and Compatibility

  • Ensure every request and response between MCP servers works correctly.

  • Handle servers with different versions or connection types.

Consider an AI agent relying on multiple MCP servers will fail if one server can’t understand the response from another.

• Monitoring and Logging

  • Track requests end-to-end.

  • Detect anomalies and misuse early.

To demonstrate, catch an agent making unusually high-volume requests before it crashes the system.

• Deployment and Scalability

  • Local servers do not scale well, so remote deployment and security become necessary.

  • Avoid conflicts between different teams or departments using the gateway.

In practice, multiple departments using the same gateway without proper isolation can cause slowdowns or errors.

• Time, Maintenance, and Long-Term Ownership

  • Building a gateway is a months-long effort with ongoing updates.

  • Continuous work is needed to stay compliant with the MCP specification.

How Pre-Built Gateways Address These Challenges?

Adopting a pre-built solution reduces complexity and lets your team focus on delivering value instead of infrastructure headaches.

• Ready-to-Use Identity and Access Management

  • OAuth, RBAC, and SSO included.

  • Teams can onboard new employees immediately without writing custom scripts.

• Compliance Handled for You

  • MCP specification updates are automatically managed.

  • No risk of breaking the system when the protocol changes.

• Multi-Tenant Deployments Managed

  • Different departments can use the gateway simultaneously without conflicts.

• Built-In Monitoring and Alerts

  • Automatically detect anomalies such as failed requests or unusual traffic.

• Focus on Core Value

  • Developers and product teams can concentrate on AI features and integrations instead of managing tokens, servers, or logs.

Decision Guide

• Full Control & Customization → Build

Ideal if your platform requires unique authentication flows for internal and external teams.

• MCP Infrastructure is Core → Build

Choose this if your product itself is the MCP gateway or infrastructure.

• Quick Deployment / Low Maintenance → Buy

Perfect for teams that want fast results, like marketing or R&D teams using AI agents without a dedicated DevOps team.

• Multi-Tenant Support & Scaling → Buy

Necessary if multiple departments or teams need to run AI workflows simultaneously without conflicts.

• Focus on AI Features & Integrations → Buy

Best when your priority is building AI capabilities, not maintaining the underlying infrastructure.

Summary

Visit ucl.dev to Learn More.