The Best MCP Software Products of 2026

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables language models to securely connect with external data sources like files, APIs, codebases, and tools in real time. Acting as a universal interface between AI models and applications, MCP allows developers to build richer, more context-aware assistants without custom integrations. By using a client-server architecture based on JSON-RPC, it standardizes how models retrieve and interact with live data, making it easier to scale AI capabilities across platforms while preserving privacy, control, and modularity.