MCPifex vs Docker MCP Gateway: Hosting and Tool Policy

Docker MCP Gateway is an open-source tool that runs MCP servers in containers on Docker Desktop or Docker Engine you operate. MCPifex is a hosted MCP gateway: you pick a server, choose its tools, and connect with one key, with nothing to install. Pick Docker if you want to run the servers yourself. Pick MCPifex if you'd rather not.

Two Docker products share the name

"Docker MCP Gateway" can mean two things. The first is the free, open-source MCP Gateway, with code in docker/mcp-gateway. The second is Docker's separate Enterprise Gateway, sold through Docker's sales team.

They suit different needs. A developer launching containers for a coding assistant wants the first. An organization that needs central identity and policy looks at the second.

The open-source gateway in practice

It ships with Docker Desktop's MCP Toolkit and as a CLI plugin for Docker Engine, so Desktop isn't required. Say you want a coding assistant to use a few containerized servers. You run the gateway, and it starts those servers in your Docker environment:

docker mcp gateway run
docker mcp gateway run --port 8080 --transport streaming

The first command talks stdio to the client that launches it. The second exposes Streamable HTTP on a port you choose.

Docker profiles group servers and let you enable or disable individual tools. Profiles can be shared, and the gateway provides call logging and tracing. If you want other people to reach that endpoint, you set up the network access, authentication, TLS and service operation yourself. A listening port alone isn't a production deployment.

What Enterprise Gateway adds

Docker's product page advertises group-based server and tool policy, SSO, SIEM events, and integration with existing secret stores. As of September 2026, it lists managed deployment in your own cloud account or VPC and an air-gapped appliance as available. A Docker-managed multi-tenant cloud is marked coming soon. Pricing goes through sales.

If those identity and governance features are part of your project, this is the product built for it. MCPifex doesn't try to match them.

How MCPifex is different

MCPifex runs the server packages for you. You create an instance in the portal, choose which tools are enabled, and issue an API key. Your client only needs one URL, https://mcpifex.com/mcp, over Streamable HTTP. The quickstart covers setup.

The key works two ways: an Authorization: Bearer mcpx_... header, or the first path segment (https://mcpifex.com/mcp/mcpx_...) for clients like ChatGPT connectors that can't send headers. Write and destructive tools are off by default. Calls to a tool you haven't enabled, or one outside our catalog, are refused. Every call is logged per instance.

Side by side

Which should you choose?

• Open-source Docker gateway: you're comfortable operating Docker and want control over which containers run, including private or custom packages.
• Enterprise Gateway: central identity, policy and security-system integration justify a sales-led deployment.
• MCPifex: a server in our catalog covers your task and you want it run for you, with a plan priced by instances. See pricing.

Whichever you try, test with a disposable data source and one real read task. Restart the host, connect a second client, and try a tool you've disabled. Tool selection also doesn't replace a restricted database role, so limit what the upstream account can do.

Where MCPifex fits

MCPifex is a marketplace and hosted gateway for MCP, so you never install or host the server. Register free to try it, or read the PostgreSQL server page for a concrete example. For the wider trade-offs, see hosted vs. self-hosted MCP, and what an MCP gateway is.