The short answer: HappySkills and KissMySkills solve different problems. HappySkills is a free package manager for developers: a CLI and registry that installs, versions and syncs skills across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and five other coding agents. KissMySkills is a library of finished, role-based specialists for people who do not code: you connect it once to Claude or ChatGPT and ask for a CFO, a recruiter or an SEO specialist in the chat you already use, with no terminal at any point. If you live in a code editor, HappySkills is very good at what it does. If you do not, that is what we built.
See how the connector works →We sell skills, so read this as a comparison written by an interested party. Every statement about HappySkills below comes from its own public pages (home page, pricing page, documentation, install guide and blog) as they stood on 3 October 2026, and you can check each one there. Their product moves quickly, so if something here has changed, their site is the source of truth.
HappySkills vs KissMySkills at a glance
| HappySkills | KissMySkills | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A package manager for AI skills: a CLI (npx happyskills), a registry and a web catalogue |
A library of ready-made skills, prompt packs and agents, plus an MCP connector that loads them into your chat |
| Built for | Developers and teams who write and maintain their own skills across projects | Professionals who do not code: marketers, founders, recruiters, finance and legal people |
| Catalogue | 80,000+ listings in its registry search, from 1,000+ publishers. Much of it is open-source skills indexed from public GitHub repositories, which the original author can claim. Each skill shows a quality score | 2,400+ files we wrote and maintain ourselves, filed by job role, each with a named persona and a working method |
| Where it works | Eight coding agents listed in its docs: Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Aider, Cline and Roo Code. The home page also mentions Cowork | Claude on the web, desktop and phone (any plan, Free included), ChatGPT on the web (Plus and up), Claude Code, Codex and Cursor |
| Needs a terminal? | Yes. Node.js 22+ on your own machine, then npx happyskills setup. Your assistant can run it for you, but its install guide tells agents in a cloud sandbox to stop |
No. Paste one URL into Claude or ChatGPT connectors and sign in with an emailed code |
| Versioning and sync | Strong: published versions, lock files (skills-lock.json), dependency resolution, kits, forks that track upstream |
None for you to manage. We update a skill centrally and the connector always serves the current version. No pinning |
| Private skills and teams | Free plan: 5 private skills. Team plan: unlimited private skills, workspaces, audit logs | Not offered. We do not host your own private skills |
| MCP access | Listed as a Team plan feature ("MCP Agent access"), $29 per user per month | The connector is the product: included on every plan, the free tier too |
| Price | Free for individuals. Team $29/user/month. Enterprise on request | 7-day free trial (email only, no card), then 3 skills free. Unlimited $15/month or $129/year. Single files from $4 |
| Do authors get paid? | Not yet. The founder says so himself in his own marketplace comparison | Yes: 30% on prompt packs, 35% on skills, 40% on agents, of the net sale price |
Choose HappySkills if…
- You work in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or another coding agent and want one command to install a skill into all of them at once.
- You write your own skills and keep losing track of which copy in which project is the current one. Versions, lock files, three-way merges and forks that follow the upstream are exactly what HappySkills is built around, and we do not do any of that.
- You want the biggest free developer catalogue with a quality score on each listing, so weak skills are labelled rather than hidden.
- You run a team that needs private skills, workspaces, per-skill permissions and an audit log.
- You want to pay nothing. For an individual developer, HappySkills is free.
Choose KissMySkills if…
- You do not use a terminal and do not want to install Node.js. You work in claude.ai, the Claude app or ChatGPT.
- You want a finished specialist, not a tool to manage skills. Each of our skills is written for a professional role: what it asks you first, what order it works in, what it refuses, what it hands back.
- You want it on your phone. Add the connector once in Claude on a computer and it appears in the Claude mobile app.
- You want MCP access without a team plan. The connector comes with the free tier and with Unlimited at $15 a month.
- You write skills and want to be paid for them. Authors keep 30-40% of every direct sale.
How each one installs
HappySkills
- Make sure Node.js 22 or newer is installed on your computer.
- Run
npx happyskills setupin your project, or paste their suggested prompt into a local assistant and let it do the steps. No account is needed to install public skills. - Setup links the skills into every supported agent it finds on your machine. Then you ask your agent to find or install skills in plain language, or run
npx happyskills install owner/name.
Their install guide is written for the AI agent doing the work, and it is clear that the install has to happen on your own machine: an agent running in a temporary cloud sandbox is told to stop, because the skills would vanish when the session ends.
KissMySkills
- In Claude (web or desktop), open Customize, then Connectors, add a custom connector and paste
https://mcp.kissmyskills.com/mcp. In ChatGPT, turn on developer mode and add it as an app. - Sign in with your email and a 6-digit code. Any email starts the 7-day trial.
- Ask in any chat: "Load the SEO specialist from KissMySkills". Only that skill loads, for that conversation.
Claude Code, Codex and Cursor take one command or one config line each. Full steps for every app are on the connector setup page. Prefer a file? Every skill is also sold on its own and you can paste it into any AI chat.
Pricing, side by side
HappySkills (from its pricing page): Community is free, with unlimited public skills, 5 private skills, dependency resolution and lock files. Team is $29 per user per month with unlimited private skills, MCP agent access, workspace management, audit logs and priority support. Enterprise adds SSO/SAML, custom policies, an SLA and an on-premise option, at a custom price.
KissMySkills (from our pricing page): a 7-day free trial with every skill open, email only, no card; after that 3 skills stay free. Unlimited is $15 a month or $129 a year, including 10 catalog files a month to download, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first charge. Or buy single files to keep: prompt packs $4, skills $7, agents $19, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The honest reading: for an individual developer, HappySkills costs nothing and we cost something. The comparison only tips our way if you need the skills inside claude.ai or ChatGPT, or if what you are paying for is the content rather than the tooling.
Where they are genuinely ahead
- A free CLI that does real package management. Dependency trees, permanent versions and reproducible installs. We have nothing like it.
- Breadth for developers. Tens of thousands of listings covering frameworks, clouds and tools, with search that explains why it picked a result.
- Eight agents from one install. We connect to five apps; they link into eight coding agents.
- Team governance. Private workspaces, groups, per-skill permissions and audit logs. We do not offer a place to host your own team's skills.
In summary:
HappySkills is the better choice if you are a developer who builds and maintains skills in coding agents: it is free, it versions everything, and it covers eight agents. KissMySkills is the better choice if you want a finished specialist inside Claude or ChatGPT without a terminal, with the MCP connector included on every plan and authors paid on every sale. Plenty of people will reasonably use both.
Connect once to Claude or ChatGPT, sign in with your email, and ask for the specialist you need. No card for the trial; 3 skills stay free afterwards.
Start the free trial →Compare other marketplaces
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