Comparison

Chroma vs ClickHouse

Chroma is an MCP server published by chroma-core. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). ClickHouse is an MCP server published by ClickHouse. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, Docker MCP Catalog). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-15. 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

Where each is published
Marketplace	Chroma	ClickHouse
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:c050ca8e1d4e Forks (GitHub): 117 Pulls (Docker Hub): 59 484 Stars (Docker Hub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 599 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Listed Version: sha256:51bcd33e17ad Forks (GitHub): 209 Pulls (Docker Hub): 351 620 Stars (Docker Hub): 3 Stars (GitHub): 887 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
Official MCP Registry	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.7.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 240 897 Downloads/week (PyPI): 54 389 Forks (GitHub): 209 Stars (GitHub): 887 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11

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

Chroma vs ClickHouse
Fact	Chroma	ClickHouse
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1 (worse)	2 (better)
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	599 (worse)	887 (better)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	59 484 (worse)	351 620 (better)
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	117 (worse)	209 (better)
Last release	Not published	Not published
Where it runs (differs)	On your machine (mcp/chroma)	On your machine (mcp-clickhouse)
Transport	stdio	stdio
Tools it declares (differs)	13	3
Environment variables it asks for (differs)	1, secrets among them: 1	16, secrets among them: 1
Licence	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Repository (differs)	github.com/chroma-core/chroma-mcp	github.com/clickhouse/mcp-clickhouse
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

In its own words, on Docker MCP Catalog:

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation that provides database capabilities for Chroma.

ClickHouse

In its own words, on Official MCP Registry:

Official ClickHouse MCP server for querying and exploring ClickHouse clusters and chDB.

How to run each

Chroma As a local MCP server: Docker image

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "CHROMA_API_KEY=<YOUR_CHROMA_API_KEY>" --transport stdio chroma -- docker run -i --rm -e CHROMA_API_KEY mcp/chroma

Requires: CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)

ClickHouse As a local MCP server: PyPI package

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "CLICKHOUSE_HOST=<YOUR_CLICKHOUSE_HOST>" --env "CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=<YOUR_CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD>" --env "CLICKHOUSE_USER=<YOUR_CLICKHOUSE_USER>" --transport stdio mcp-clickhouse -- uvx mcp-clickhouse

Requires: CLICKHOUSE_HOST, CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD (secret), CLICKHOUSE_USER

Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.

Tools each declares

Only Chroma declares

chroma_add_documents
chroma_create_collection
chroma_delete_collection
chroma_delete_documents
chroma_fork_collection
chroma_get_collection_count
chroma_get_collection_info
chroma_get_documents
chroma_list_collections
chroma_modify_collection
chroma_peek_collection
chroma_query_documents

Show the remaining 1

chroma_update_documents

Only ClickHouse declares

list_databases
list_tables
run_select_query

Both declare

None

Tool names as each marketplace publishes them. More tools is not better in itself: compare what each needs for the job.

Settings each asks for

Only Chroma asks for

CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)

Only ClickHouse asks for

CLICKHOUSE_ALLOW_DROP
CLICKHOUSE_ALLOW_WRITE_ACCESS
CLICKHOUSE_CA_CERT
CLICKHOUSE_CLIENT_CERT
CLICKHOUSE_CLIENT_CERT_KEY
CLICKHOUSE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT
CLICKHOUSE_DATABASE
CLICKHOUSE_HOST
CLICKHOUSE_MCP_MAX_WORKERS
CLICKHOUSE_MCP_QUERY_TIMEOUT
CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD (secret)
CLICKHOUSE_PORT

Show the remaining 6

CLICKHOUSE_ROLE
CLICKHOUSE_SECURE
CLICKHOUSE_SEND_RECEIVE_TIMEOUT
CLICKHOUSE_TLS_MODE
CLICKHOUSE_USER
CLICKHOUSE_VERIFY

Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.

What it can do: Chroma · What it can do: ClickHouse · Compare two other plugins

Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on 2026-10-15. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.