Needle Remote vs Docling MCP
Needle Remote is an MCP server published by docker. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Docling MCP is an MCP server published by docling-project. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-14. 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 |  Docling MCP | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: not stated No figure published Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 3.3.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 20 338 Downloads/week (PyPI): 6 126 Forks (GitHub): 144 Stars (GitHub): 772 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 | Needle Remote | Docling MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 772 |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 144 |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (mcp.needle.app/mcp) | On your machine (docling-mcp) |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | 14, secrets among them: 1 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | Not stated | github.com/docling-project/docling-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | not checked yet | no remote endpoint we check |
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
Needle Remote
Production-ready RAG service to search and retrieve data from your documents.
Docling MCP
Convert PDFs and other documents to structured formats via Docling, for AI applications.
How to run each
Needle Remote As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http needle https://mcp.needle.app/mcpRequires: NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)
Docling MCP As a local MCP server: PyPI package
claude mcp add --env "DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY=<YOUR_DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY>" --transport stdio docling-mcp -- uvx --from docling-mcp==3.3.0 docling-mcp-server --transport stdio docling-mcpRequires: DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Only Needle Remote asks for
NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)
Only Docling MCP asks for
DOCLING_MCP_CACHE_MAX_DOCUMENTSDOCLING_MCP_CONVERSION_MODEDOCLING_MCP_DO_OCRDOCLING_MCP_DO_PICTURE_DESCRIPTIONDOCLING_MCP_DO_TABLE_STRUCTUREDOCLING_MCP_FALLBACK_TO_LOCALDOCLING_MCP_IMAGES_SCALEDOCLING_MCP_IMAGE_EXPORT_MODEDOCLING_MCP_KEEP_IMAGESDOCLING_MCP_PICTURE_DESCRIPTION_PRESETDOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_API_KEY (secret)DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_MAX_RETRIES
Show the remaining 2
DOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_TIMEOUTDOCLING_MCP_SERVICE_URL
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Needle Remote · What it can do: Docling MCP · 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 . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.