Who builds the AI connector for my brand?

If my brand doesn't build an AI connector, will someone else?

Often, yes. Meta has built two Instagram connectors, and in the stores we track they exist only inside Meta's own assistant, Muse.

If you want Instagram data in ChatGPT, the top option is Windsor.ai Instagram, built by a marketing data company and ranked #276. In Claude it is Adzviser Instagram Insights, or a Claude Code plugin called simply instagram that a GitHub user published.

Some context: every AI store labels its listings, but the labels mean different things. "Official" usually means the store checked the listing, not that the brand built it. And "community" often means a real company that never got the checkmark. Here's what we found when we split all 15,682 apps in our census, as of October 20, 2026.

What do official and community mean?

We call an app official when a store vouches for it, and community when a store lists it without verification:

• Claude: official if Anthropic built it or gave it the Verified checkmark, community if it carries Anthropic's Community label.
• ChatGPT: official if OpenAI lists a developer type for it (OpenAI itself or a reviewed partner), community if it has none.
• Cursor: official if the publisher is verified, community if it is a personal account.
• Muse: all official, because Meta publishes the whole list.

One exception: if an MCP server runs on the brand's own domain (mcp.example.com for example.com), we count it as official even when the store says Community, because the brand runs it.

How much of each store is community-built?

About 70% of all apps are official, but it depends on what kind of app it is. Connectors are mostly official: 1,871 of 12,753 (15%) are community. Skills are the reverse: 2,692 of 2,929 skills plugins (92%) are community.

That is what you would expect. A connector needs a server that someone has to run, secure and pay for. A skill is a folder of text that anyone can write in an afternoon.

The stores differ a lot, too. In ChatGPT, 0.3% of connectors are community. In Claude it is 23%, in Cursor 9%, and in Muse none.

Why does Claude label so many connectors Community?

Because Claude and ChatGPT review different things.

In ChatGPT, every plugin with tools has a developer type, which means OpenAI built it or reviewed it. The 1,105 plugins without one have no tools at all, only skills. OpenAI's plugin guidelines say all submissions "must come from verified individuals or organizations," so nothing in ChatGPT that can act on your data skips review.

Claude does it the other way round. Anyone on a paid Claude plan can submit, and a new connector is scanned and listed as Community by default (Anthropic). Anthropic may later pick it for Verified review, and there is no way to apply.

The result: 5,778 of the 6,771 connectors in Claude's directory (85%) carry the Community label. Most are still run by real companies: 84% of them run on the brand's own domain. So in Claude, Community mostly means "not yet picked for review," not "built by a stranger."

Which categories are mostly community-built?

Developer tools and AI add-ons. A third of code and repository connectors are community (115 of 349), and so are 31% of AI assistant add-ons. At the other end, shopping is 5% community, entertainment 7% and travel 8%.

It comes down to who has the itch. Developers build tools for their own work, and they publish them. Nobody builds an unofficial airline booking connector on a weekend, because the booking system belongs to the airline.

Do community connectors rank lower?

Yes. In Claude, Community-labeled connectors fill 309 of the top 1,000 popularity spots but none of the top 100. Their median rank is #3,704, against #575 for Verified connectors.

In ChatGPT, the community side is skills, and skills rank low: a median position of #5,102, against #3,341 for reviewed plugins. Only 17 are in the top 1,000, and 11 of those were published by OpenAI itself. The rest come from companies like NVIDIA, Salesforce, Twilio and HeyGen, not hobbyists.

Is a community connector built by fans?

Usually not. The most popular community app in Claude is draw.io at #138. draw.io runs it on its own server, mcp.draw.io. It only counts as community in our data because its website is drawio.com, a different domain. Runway, Statista and Moneybird are in the same position.

The same brand often gets different labels in different stores. Of the 1,656 apps with a reviewed ChatGPT plugin and a Claude listing, 1,185 carry only the Community label in Claude.

Some of the rank gaps are large. Flaim Fantasy is #4 in ChatGPT and #834 in Claude, COROS is #72 and #394, and CoinGecko is #96 and #551. All three are Community in Claude. We cannot say the label causes the gap: Anthropic picks for Verified review by usefulness, so it may work the other way round.

Who builds connectors for brands that don't ship one?

Mostly other companies. We searched for the big social platforms, and the brand itself was usually missing:

• YouTube: 9 apps have YouTube in the name, and Google built none of them. ThoughtLeaders sells "YouTube transcripts, brand mentions, and views history."
• Reddit: the only general Reddit connector is Reddit MCP Buddy, by an individual developer, and it is Verified by Anthropic.
• Telegram: Telegram has none. Anthropic publishes a Claude Code plugin, and one listing honestly calls itself Unofficial Telegram MCP.
• TikTok: 7 apps, one of them from TikTok (TikTok for Business, #136 in Claude).

One company, Adzviser, has 54 apps in our directory, each one wrapping another brand's data: Instagram, Pinterest Ads, Reddit Ads, YouTube, Shopify and more. Its servers run on Adzviser's own domain, so they are official for Adzviser, not for Instagram. When a brand does not ship, a middleman does.

Compare Spotify, which built its own. It ranks #22 in Claude and #216 in ChatGPT, and it shows Spotify's own cards in the chat.

So, what should you do?

Search each store for your brand name. Third-party connectors for your brand may already rank above anything you would launch on day one. Users see a logo, a name and a Connect button, and they trust whoever is behind it with their login.

Run the server on your own domain. In Claude, that is the clearest public sign that the brand runs it, with or without the checkmark.

Earn each store's label separately. 1,185 apps are reviewed in ChatGPT and still Community in Claude. A review in one store does not carry over to the next.

Ship early. Flaim Fantasy and draw.io show that the connector that gets there first can hold the top spot for a long time.

Methodology

We read the ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and Muse directories every day; all numbers are from October 20, 2026. We group listings for the same app into one app and set it official if any store vouches for it or its server runs on the brand's own domain. Claude's directory totals come from Anthropic's directory API. Brand searches match app names, so they miss connectors that do not use the brand's name. More on our method page.