Best places to buy Claude Skills in 2026: marketplaces compared

"Claude Skill" means different things to different buyers. For a developer, it's a Python helper that automates GitHub PRs. For a marketing team, it's a thinking framework that makes Claude evaluate campaigns like David Ogilvy. For a researcher, it's a PDF extraction tool. These are wildly different products sold through different marketplaces.

This guide is a buyer's map of the Claude Skills ecosystem as it stands in April 2026. We're going to be honest about where authority.md fits — and, just as importantly, where it doesn't. If you're looking for a coding skill, we're not your answer. If you're looking for a thinking framework, we probably are.

Before you pick a marketplace: know what you're buying

The word "skill" gets used loosely. Four distinct things sit under it:

1. Coding and development skills — automations for Git, testing, deployment, documentation. Best for engineers inside Claude Code.
2. Document and data skills — PDF extraction, spreadsheet manipulation, web scraping, format conversion. Best for operational work.
3. Thinking frameworks — structured mental models from named thinkers (Buffett, Feynman, Kobe). Best for decision-making, strategy, creative work.
4. MCP servers — extensions that let Claude talk to external services (GitHub, Linear, Gmail, databases). Best for connecting Claude to your tools.

The marketplace you pick depends on which bucket you need. Most marketplaces specialise in one or two buckets; very few cover all four well.

The shortlist

For coding and development skills

1. Claude Marketplaces (claudemarketplaces.com) The broadest directory of coding-focused Claude Code plugins, skills, and MCP servers. 2,500+ marketplaces aggregated, 770+ MCP servers catalogued. Free to browse, most skills are open-source GitHub repos.

Good for: developers who want the widest selection and are comfortable inspecting open-source code before installing.

Downside: quality is variable. Many skills are single-developer side projects. You do the curation work yourself.

2. SkillsMP (skillsmp.com) Searchable index of 900,000+ agent skills from GitHub, filtered by occupation and quality indicators. Compatible across Claude Code, Codex CLI, and ChatGPT via the open SKILL.md standard.

Good for: teams wanting smart search and filtering rather than raw browsing.

Downside: it's an index of public repos. If you want vetted or commercial-grade skills, this isn't that.

3. Claude Skills Hub (claudeskills.info) Curated marketplace focused specifically on Claude Code skills. Includes 16 official Anthropic skills alongside community contributions.

Good for: users who want the official Anthropic-provided skills plus a clean community extension.

For document and data skills

For PDF extraction, spreadsheet work, and document processing, the 16 official Anthropic skills (bundled with Claude.ai and Claude Code) are almost always the right starting point. They're maintained by Anthropic, free, and handle the common cases well.

If you need something more specific, LobeHub (lobehub.com/skills) hosts a decent catalogue of document and creative skills, with clear install instructions for Claude Code and Codex CLI.

Good for: users who've tried Anthropic's built-in skills and need something more specialised.

For thinking frameworks and mental models

This is where authority.md sits. The category is narrower than the coding-skills space — there are effectively three sellers worth comparing.

1. authority.md (authority.md) — that's us 447 structured thinking frameworks distilled from documented thinkers. Each one delivered as a native Claude Skill (.zip) plus a plain .md file for any LLM. $4.99 per framework, 4 for $14.99, 10 for $29.99.

Good for: buyers who want engineered frameworks (named mental models, decision heuristics, anti-patterns, activation prompts) rather than persona prompts. Works in Claude Code, Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM.

Downside: paid. If you just want to test the idea of AI personas, there are free options.

2. Think Like Them (thinklikethem.net) 107+ free persona prompts inspired by named entrepreneurs and thinkers. Copy the prompt, paste into ChatGPT or Claude.

Good for: first-timers who want to test the concept without paying, and for light conversational use.

Downside: prompts, not frameworks — the AI adopts a voice but doesn't reason with structured models. No Claude Skill format, no activation prompts, no worked examples.

For the full breakdown of how these two compare, see our authority.md vs Think Like Them guide.

3. Mental Models AI (mentalmodels.ai) An AI coaching tool with 50+ mental models. Subscription-based ($19/mo or $49/yr). You chat with it rather than installing files.

Good for: users who want conversational coaching through decisions rather than a downloadable skill they own.

Downside: it's not a file you install. You can't load it into Claude Code, can't share it across teams, can't version-control it. If the site goes down, you lose access.

For MCP servers (connecting Claude to external services)

MCP Market (mcpmarket.com) and the MCP section of Claude Marketplaces are the main directories. Most MCP servers are free and open-source. The best ones (GitHub, Linear, Notion) are published by the companies themselves.

Good for: developers connecting Claude to their existing tools.

The comparison table

Why you'd use authority.md specifically

We cover one bucket — thinking frameworks — and we try to do it well. The pitch in a sentence: install a better thinker, once, and Claude reasons like them every time.

A few things we care about that other marketplaces in our bucket don't:

• Engineered frameworks, not prompts. Each framework has five named mental models, decision heuristics, signature questions, anti-patterns, and an activation prompt. The AI executes against structure, not a persona voice.
• Dual format delivery. You get a native Claude Skill .zip AND a plain .md file. Works in Claude Code, Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM — without reformatting.
• Named, documented thinkers. 447 frameworks drawn from people with real bodies of work: investors like Buffett and Munger, scientists like Feynman and Curie, athletes like Kobe and Serena, creators like Rubin and Morrison, leaders like Marcus Aurelius and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• One-off purchase. $4.99 each. No subscription. You own the file forever.
• 24-hour refund. If a framework doesn't match the quality we claim, reply to the delivery email and we refund. No hoops.
• Updated regularly. New personas added monthly. Existing frameworks versioned when source material changes.

Who we're NOT for: developers looking for coding automations, teams needing MCP server integrations, buyers who want a conversational coaching product, people exploring whether persona prompts work at all (start with Think Like Them for that — it's free).

How to decide: three questions

1. What bucket is my need in? Coding → Claude Marketplaces / SkillsMP. Documents → Anthropic's official skills first, then LobeHub. Thinking → authority.md (or Think Like Them if testing). MCP → MCP Market.

2. Do I want to own a file or rent access? Files give you durability, portability, and version control. Subscriptions give you ongoing content but disappear if the provider folds. authority.md, Think Like Them, and the coding marketplaces all give you files. Mental Models AI is a subscription.

3. What's the quality floor I can accept? Free community marketplaces need you to curate; paid products like authority.md do the curation for you. For a $4.99 framework you expect engineering; for a free prompt you accept a starting point.

The honest summary

If you're here because you searched "Claude Skills marketplace" and don't yet know which bucket you need — that's normal. Skills is a new category and the language hasn't settled. Start by identifying the use case (decision work, coding, documents, integrations) and match to the marketplace above.

If your use case is specifically about installing better thinking into your AI — evaluating investments like Buffett, debugging like Feynman, coaching like Kobe — we think authority.md is worth the $4.99. If it's not, one of the free options above will serve you better, and we'd rather you start there than feel burnt on a purchase.

Start here

• Browse our 447 frameworks — see the catalogue.
• Read the comparison with Think Like Them if you're deciding between us and free prompts.
• What is a Claude Skill? if you need the concept explained first.

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This guide is updated when marketplaces add, remove, or significantly change their offerings. Last reviewed: April 2026.