Building MCP servers for SaaS APIs as a productized service
George Forger argues that building custom MCP servers for SaaS companies with incomplete official integrations is an emerging freelance business generating $300–$1,000 per project with 12–24 hours of work.
Score breakdown
Freelance developers and small shops looking for a productized AI-adjacent service can use the gap between official SaaS MCP servers and real user demand as a repeatable, low-overhead revenue stream.
- 01George Forger built MCP servers for 9 SaaS APIs and describes the experience in a free sample from the 'Nova Research Brief' series (June 2026).
- 02Each project takes an estimated 12–24 hours and is priced at $300–$1,000, yielding an effective rate of $25–$80/hour.
- 03At two projects per week, the model projects $2,400–$8,000/month in revenue at 48–96 hours of work.
George Forger's post, framed as a free sample from the "Nova Research Brief" series, makes the case that a productized MCP server development service is an underexploited freelance niche. The core insight is that SaaS companies with existing APIs rarely prioritize MCP server enhancements — they're focused on their core product — leaving a gap between what official servers offer and what power users actually request. Forger documents this pattern across Linear, Stripe, Jira, and PostHog, each with open GitHub issues and unmet feature requests that a freelance developer could fulfill.
The economics are straightforward: research and scoping takes 2–4 hours, implementation 8–16 hours, and testing plus documentation another 2–4 hours, for a total of 12–24 hours per project priced at $300–$1,000.
The economics are straightforward: research and scoping takes 2–4 hours, implementation 8–16 hours, and testing plus documentation another 2–4 hours, for a total of 12–24 hours per project priced at $300–$1,000. The key advantage Forger highlights is productization — every MCP server follows the same structure (authenticate, wrap endpoints as tools, add validation, write markdown output, publish to npm, submit to Glama), so marginal time per new server drops sharply after the first few builds. He estimates the first Stripe server takes 20 hours; the fifth takes 8.
Three business models are outlined: the "gap filler" (enhance an existing official server and pitch the company directly using their own GitHub issues as proof of demand), the "MCP agency" (build a portfolio across multiple APIs with 80% reusable code structure), and "open source + paid support" (publish the server publicly, monetize through consulting and custom extensions). For distribution, Forger identifies GitHub issue commenting, Dev.to articles, Glama directory indexing, and npm package stats as the effective channels, while dismissing cold email and generic Twitter posts as ineffective.
Key facts
- 01George Forger built MCP servers for 9 SaaS APIs and describes the experience in a free sample from the 'Nova Research Brief' series (June 2026).
- 02Each project takes an estimated 12–24 hours and is priced at $300–$1,000, yielding an effective rate of $25–$80/hour.
- 03At two projects per week, the model projects $2,400–$8,000/month in revenue at 48–96 hours of work.
- 04Named SaaS gaps include Linear (missing sortOrder, bulk issue creation), Stripe (no payment link management or webhook debugging), Jira (limited sprint queries), and PostHog (no feature flag or cohort tools).
- 05Three models are outlined: 'gap filler,' 'MCP agency,' and 'open source + paid support.'
- 06Effective client acquisition channels identified are GitHub issue hunting, Dev.to articles, Glama directory listings, and npm package download stats.
- 07The post predicts MCP server customization could become a $50M+ market and that a dedicated 'MCP agency' could reach $1M ARR.
Topics
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