Chroma vs pinecone
Chroma is an MCP server published by chroma-core. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). pinecone is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by pinecone-io. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-official, Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-12. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  pinecone | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:c050ca8e1d4e Forks (GitHub): 117 Pulls (Docker Hub): 59 179 Stars (Docker Hub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 600 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-official | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.7.1 Forks (GitHub): 12 Stars (GitHub): 69 Not marked · First seen |
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.5.1 Forks (GitHub): 12 Stars (GitHub): 69 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | Chroma | pinecone |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 600 (better) | 69 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 59 179 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 117 (better) | 12 (worse) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/chroma) | On your machine (@pinecone-database/mcp) |
| Transport (differs) | stdio | Not stated |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 13 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | 1, secrets among them: 1 | 1, secrets among them: 1 |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | Not published | 2 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 12 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/chroma-core/chroma-mcp | github.com/pinecone-io/pinecone-claude-code-plugin |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
Chroma
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation that provides database capabilities for Chroma.
pinecone
Pinecone vector database integration. Streamline your Pinecone development with powerful tools for managing vector indexes, querying data, and rapid prototyping. Use slash commands like /quickstart to generate AGENTS.md files and initialize Python projects and /query to quickly explore indexes. Access the Pinecone MCP server for creating, describing, upserting and querying indexes with Claude. Perfect for developers building semantic search, RAG applications, recommendation systems, and other vector-based applications with Pinecone.
How to run each
Chroma As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --env "CHROMA_API_KEY=<YOUR_CHROMA_API_KEY>" --transport stdio chroma -- docker run -i --rm -e CHROMA_API_KEY mcp/chromaRequires: CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)
pinecone As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin install pinecone@claude-plugins-officialCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
The marketplaces of pinecone publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Only Chroma asks for
CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)
Only pinecone asks for
PINECONE_API_KEY (secret)
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Chroma · What it can do: pinecone · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.