# mcp-vs-agent-skills results

Run 2026-10-23T08:23:27+00:00 · `us.anthropic.claude-haiku-4-5-20251001-v1:0` · us-east-1 · strands-agents 1.62.0 · mcp 2.1.1 · N=10 per cell

## Fixed overhead (prompt: reply OK)

| Setup | Input tokens |
| --- | ---: |
| baseline | 34 |
| mcp | 869 |
| skill | 753 |
| mcp_skill | 1091 |

## Tasks

| Task | Setup | Pass | Median input tokens | Median output tokens | Median seconds | Tool calls (total) | Failure reasons |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- | --- |
| opened-electronics | baseline | 0/10 | 88 | 186 | 2.8 | — | decision pending |
| opened-electronics | mcp | 0/10 | 2022 | 263 | 4.2 | get_order×10 | amount 249.0 |
| opened-electronics | skill | 0/10 | 2044 | 217 | 3.5 | skills×10 | no parsable JSON |
| opened-electronics | mcp_skill | 10/10 | 2904 | 465 | 5.1 | get_order×10, skills×10 | — |
| final-sale | baseline | 0/10 | 87 | 137 | 2.5 | — | approval flag |
| final-sale | mcp | 0/10 | 2017 | 254 | 4.3 | get_order×10 | approval flag |
| final-sale | skill | 0/10 | 2046 | 238 | 3.6 | skills×10 | no parsable JSON |
| final-sale | mcp_skill | 10/10 | 2908 | 253 | 3.7 | get_order×10, skills×10 | — |
| outside-window | baseline | 0/10 | 88 | 206 | 3.2 | — | approval flag |
| outside-window | mcp | 0/10 | 2021 | 244 | 3.8 | get_order×10 | decision approve |
| outside-window | skill | 0/10 | 2044 | 211 | 3.6 | skills×10 | no parsable JSON |
| outside-window | mcp_skill | 10/10 | 2911 | 377 | 4.5 | get_order×10, skills×10 | — |

## Totals by setup

| Setup | Pass | Median input tokens |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| baseline | 0/30 | 88 |
| mcp | 0/30 | 2021 |
| skill | 0/30 | 2044 |
| mcp_skill | 30/30 | 2908 |