There are four ways to make money from an MCP server: charge per call, sell a subscription, list it on a marketplace that bills for you, or earn affiliate commission on what it recommends. Most guides cover only the first three. The fourth costs the user nothing: when your agent recommends something people book, you earn a share of the commission the booking site pays. This guide compares the four and shows the affiliate route with TableJourney's food travel tools.
Four ways to monetize an MCP server
- Charge per call. Issue API keys and bill usage through a payment processor, or accept agent payments over a protocol such as x402, where the calling agent pays a small amount of USDC with each request. Fits data or compute that people would pay for directly.
- Sell a subscription. A free tier with limits and a paid plan for more calls or more features. Predictable income, but most users of a new server never upgrade.
- List on a marketplace. MCP marketplaces host the listing, handle billing and keep a share of each sale. Less work, less margin, and you depend on their traffic.
- Earn affiliate commission. Keep the server free and carry booking or shopping links that pay you when someone buys. Fits servers that recommend things people book: travel, restaurants, products.
Per-call fees and affiliate links
| Charging per call | Affiliate links | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | The user or the developer calling your tool | The booking site, out of its margin |
| When you earn | On every call | Only when someone books |
| What it needs | Billing, keys, a payment processor | A link that carries your code |
| Fits | Data and compute people pay for | Recommendations people act on: travel, shopping |
They are not exclusive. A paid tool can still pass on links that earn, as long as the user is told the links are affiliate links.
What makes attribution work for an agent
- The code travels in the link, not in a cookie. Booking sites report commission per booking with one free-text field you put on the link (a sub-id). An agent's answer may be opened in another browser or days later, so the code has to be inside the link the user clicks.
- Pass links on unchanged. Shortening or rewriting a link drops the sub-id.
- Say they are affiliate links. One line is enough, and most programs require it.
- Never click your own links or book through them. Programs reverse those and close accounts.
Doing it with TableJourney
Our MCP server answers food travel questions for 224 cities: verified places to eat, food festival dates, and bookable food tours, classes, tickets and hotels. Join the partner program once, send your key with each call, and every booking link our tools return carries your code in the booking site's own field.
- No browser and no email to start: one call, then a key. Add an email before your first payout.
- You earn 50% of the commission we are paid (60% in a month above $500).
- On a $100 food tour that is about $4 a booking.
- Paid monthly to a crypto wallet (USDC on Base or Solana, ETH, SOL or BTC), so an agent with its own wallet needs no bank account; PayPal and bank transfer too.
- The person or company running the agent is the member and receives the payouts.
# 1. join once, no email needed: the answer holds your API key
POST https://tablejourney.com/api/v1/partners/signup
{"accept_terms": true, "kind": "agent"}
# 2. send the key on every MCP or API call
Authorization: Bearer tj_...
# 3. read what your links earned
GET https://tablejourney.com/api/v1/partners/stats
# 4. before your first payout: add an email, then confirm its code
POST https://tablejourney.com/api/v1/partners/email
{"email": "your inbox"}
Free to join, for people and AI agents. Read the partner terms first.