Needle Remote vs Zoteus
Needle Remote is an MCP server published by docker. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Zoteus is an MCP server published by oscardvs. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, Community GitHub marketplaces). 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
| Marketplace |  Zoteus | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: not stated No figure published Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.22.4 Downloads/month (npm): 6 515 Downloads/week (npm): 371 Forks (GitHub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 58 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 | Zoteus |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 58 |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 5 |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (mcp.needle.app/mcp) | Remote server or your machine |
| Transport | Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | 3, secrets among them: 1 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 5 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | Not stated | github.com/oscardvs/zoteus |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | not checked yet | Responded 29 h ago, requires a key |
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.
Zoteus
Zotero MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT: search, citations, safe writes, PDF passages and pages.
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)
Zoteus As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http zoteus https://mcp.zoteus.com/mcpRequires: ZOTERO_API_KEY (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only Zoteus has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
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 Zoteus asks for
ZOTERO_API_KEY (secret)ZOTEUS_ALLOW_DELETEZOTEUS_LOCAL
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Needle Remote · What it can do: Zoteus · 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. Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.