Preprint · 2025

MCP-Bench: Benchmarking Tool-Using LLM Agents with Complex Real-World Tasks via MCP Servers

Zhenting Wang, Qi Chang, Hemani Patel, Shashank Biju, Cheng-En Wu, Quan Liu, Aolin Ding, Alireza Rezazadeh, Ankit Shah, Yujia Bao, Eugene Siow

Abstract

We introduce MCP-Bench, a benchmark for evaluating large language models (LLMs) on realistic, multi-step tasks that demand tool use, cross-tool coordination, precise parameter control, and planning/reasoning for solving tasks. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), MCP-Bench connects LLMs to 28 representative live MCP servers spanning 250 tools across domains such as finance, traveling, scientific computing, and academic search. Unlike prior API-based benchmarks, each MCP server provides a set of complementary tools designed to work together, enabling the construction of authentic, multi-step tasks with rich input-output coupling. Tasks in MCP-Bench test agents' ability to retrieve relevant tools from fuzzy instructions without explicit tool names, plan multi-hop execution trajectories for complex objectives, ground responses in intermediate tool outputs, and orchestrate cross-domain workflows - capabilities not adequately evaluated by existing benchmarks that rely on explicit tool specifications, shallow few-step workflows, and isolated domain operations. We propose a multi-faceted evaluation framework covering tool-level schema understanding and usage, trajectory-level planning, and task completion. Experiments on 20 advanced LLMs reveal persistent challenges in MCP-Bench. Code and data: https://github.com/Accenture/mcp-bench.

BibTeX Copy

@misc{wang_mcp-bench_2025,
	title = {{MCP}-{Bench}: {Benchmarking} {Tool}-{Using} {LLM} {Agents} with {Complex} {Real}-{World} {Tasks} via {MCP} {Servers}},
	shorttitle = {{MCP}-{Bench}},
	url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2508.20453},
	doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2508.20453},
	abstract = {We introduce MCP-Bench, a benchmark for evaluating large language models (LLMs) on realistic, multi-step tasks that demand tool use, cross-tool coordination, precise parameter control, and planning/reasoning for solving tasks. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), MCP-Bench connects LLMs to 28 representative live MCP servers spanning 250 tools across domains such as finance, traveling, scientific computing, and academic search. Unlike prior API-based benchmarks, each MCP server provides a set of complementary tools designed to work together, enabling the construction of authentic, multi-step tasks with rich input-output coupling. Tasks in MCP-Bench test agents' ability to retrieve relevant tools from fuzzy instructions without explicit tool names, plan multi-hop execution trajectories for complex objectives, ground responses in intermediate tool outputs, and orchestrate cross-domain workflows - capabilities not adequately evaluated by existing benchmarks that rely on explicit tool specifications, shallow few-step workflows, and isolated domain operations. We propose a multi-faceted evaluation framework covering tool-level schema understanding and usage, trajectory-level planning, and task completion. Experiments on 20 advanced LLMs reveal persistent challenges in MCP-Bench. Code and data: https://github.com/Accenture/mcp-bench.},
	urldate = {2026-11-06},
	publisher = {arXiv},
	author = {Wang, Zhenting and Chang, Qi and Patel, Hemani and Biju, Shashank and Wu, Cheng-En and Liu, Quan and Ding, Aolin and Rezazadeh, Alireza and Shah, Ankit and Bao, Yujia and Siow, Eugene},
	month = aug,
	year = {2025},
	note = {arXiv:2508.20453 [cs.CL]},
	keywords = {Computer Science - Computation and Language},
}