Obsidian vs Vault Cortex
Obsidian is an MCP server published by MarkusPfundstein. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Vault Cortex is an MCP server published by aliasunder. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-13. 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 |   Obsidian |  Vault Cortex |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:0eba4c05742a Forks (GitHub): 504 Pulls (Docker Hub): 141 997 Stars (Docker Hub): 31 Stars (GitHub): 4 473 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.54.13 Forks (GitHub): 3 Stars (GitHub): 26 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 | Obsidian | Vault Cortex |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 4 473 (better) | 26 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 141 997 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 504 (better) | 3 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-12 |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/obsidian) | On your machine (ghcr.io/aliasunder/vault-cortex:0.54.13) |
| Transport (differs) | stdio | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 12 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 2, secrets among them: 1 | 24, secrets among them: 1 |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/markuspfundstein/mcp-obsidian | github.com/aliasunder/vault-cortex |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| 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
Obsidian
MCP server that interacts with Obsidian via the Obsidian rest API community plugin.
Vault Cortex
Standalone MCP server for Obsidian vaults — hybrid search, notes & files, memory, tasks, OAuth 2.1
How to run each
Obsidian As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --env "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY=<YOUR_OBSIDIAN_API_KEY>" --transport stdio obsidian -- docker run -i --rm -e OBSIDIAN_API_KEY mcp/obsidianRequires: OBSIDIAN_API_KEY (secret)
Vault Cortex
No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.
Requires: MCP_AUTH_TOKEN (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
The marketplaces of Vault Cortex publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Only Obsidian asks for
OBSIDIAN_API_KEY (secret)OBSIDIAN_HOST
Only Vault Cortex asks for
DAILY_NOTES_FOLDERDAILY_NOTES_FORMATDISABLED_TOOLSEMBEDDING_ENABLEDFILE_TOOLS_ENABLEDLOG_DIRLOG_LEVELLOG_RETENTION_DAYSMAX_FILE_BYTESMAX_IMAGE_OUTPUT_BYTESMAX_PDF_RENDER_PAGESMCP_AUTH_TOKEN (secret)
Show the remaining 12
MEMORY_DIRMEMORY_ENABLEDORPHAN_EXCLUDE_FOLDERSPROTECTED_PATHSPUBLIC_URLREADONLY_MODERERANK_MODESERVICE_DOCUMENTATION_URLTRUST_FORWARDED_HOPSTRUST_PROXY_HOPSTZWINDOWS_MODE
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Obsidian · What it can do: Vault Cortex · 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.