Comparison

Obsidian vs Markdown Vault MCP

Obsidian is an MCP server published by MarkusPfundstein. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Markdown Vault MCP is an MCP server published by pvliesdonk. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, PyPI (MCP servers)). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-23. 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	Obsidian	Markdown Vault MCP
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:0eba4c05742a Forks (GitHub): 508 Pulls (Docker Hub): 145 432 Stars (Docker Hub): 31 Stars (GitHub): 4 487 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Not listed
Official MCP Registry	Not listed	Listed Version: 5.1.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 1 927 Downloads/week (PyPI): 265 Forks (GitHub): 13 Stars (GitHub): 35 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
PyPI (MCP servers)	Not listed	Listed Version: 5.1.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 1 927 Downloads/week (PyPI): 265 Forks (GitHub): 13 Stars (GitHub): 35 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-12

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

Obsidian vs Markdown Vault MCP
Fact	Obsidian	Markdown Vault MCP
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1 (worse)	2 (better)
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	4 487 (better)	35 (worse)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	145 432	No figure on Docker Hub
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	508 (better)	13 (worse)
Last release	Not published	Not published
Where it runs (differs)	On your machine (mcp/obsidian)	On your machine (markdown-vault-mcp)
Transport	stdio	stdio
Tools it declares (differs)	12	Not published
Environment variables it asks for (differs)	2, secrets among them: 1	110, secrets among them: 10
Licence	MIT	MIT
Repository (differs)	github.com/markuspfundstein/mcp-obsidian	github.com/pvliesdonk/markdown-vault-mcp
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

Obsidian

In its own words, on Docker MCP Catalog:

MCP server that interacts with Obsidian via the Obsidian rest API community plugin.

Markdown Vault MCP

In its own words, on Official MCP Registry:

Generic markdown vault MCP with hybrid search

How to run each

Obsidian As a local MCP server: Docker image

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "OBSIDIAN_API_KEY=<YOUR_OBSIDIAN_API_KEY>" --transport stdio obsidian -- docker run -i --rm -e OBSIDIAN_API_KEY mcp/obsidian

Requires: OBSIDIAN_API_KEY (secret)

Markdown Vault MCP As a local MCP server: PyPI package

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_TOKEN=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_TOKEN>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_TOKEN=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_TOKEN>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY>" --env "MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_API_KEY=<YOUR_MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_API_KEY>" --env "OPENAI_API_KEY=<YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY>" --env "VOYAGE_API_KEY=<YOUR_VOYAGE_API_KEY>" --transport stdio markdown-vault-mcp -- uvx markdown-vault-mcp

Requires: MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_TOKEN (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_TOKEN (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY (secret), MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_API_KEY (secret), OPENAI_API_KEY (secret), VOYAGE_API_KEY (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 Markdown Vault MCP 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 Markdown Vault MCP asks for

MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_APP_DOMAIN
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_ATTACHMENT_EXTENSIONS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_AUTH_MODE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BASE_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_DEFAULT_SUBJECT
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BEARER_TOKENS_FILE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BOOT_REINDEX
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_BUILD_TIMEOUT_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_CHUNKS_PER_FILE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_CHUNK_OVERLAP_WORDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_CONVENTIONS_FILE

Show the remaining 98

MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_DEFAULT_SEARCH_MODE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_DISABLE_APPS_UI
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_DRAIN_TIMEOUT_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EMBEDDINGS_PATH
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EMBEDDING_PROVIDER
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EMBED_CONTEXT
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EMBED_TIMEOUT_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_EXCLUDE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FASTEMBED_CACHE_DIR
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FASTEMBED_MODEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FILE_WATCHER
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FILE_WATCHER_DEBOUNCE_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FILE_WATCHER_ROOT_FLOOR
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FOLDER_WEIGHTS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_FTS_WEIGHTS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TOKEN (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GITLAB_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_TOKEN (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_COMMIT_EMAIL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_COMMIT_EMAIL_CLAIM
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_COMMIT_NAME
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_COMMIT_NAME_CLAIM
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_LFS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_PULL_INTERVAL_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_PUSH_DELAY_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_REPO_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_TOKEN (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_GIT_USERNAME
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_HEALTH_DETAIL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_HTTP_PATH
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_INDEXED_FIELDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_INDEX_PATH
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_INSTANCE_DESCRIPTION
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS_EXTRA
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_JOBS_MAX_PER_SUBJECT
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_JOBS_RESULT_TTL_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_JOBS_SOFT_DEADLINE_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_KV_STORE_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_LENGTH_DOWNWEIGHT_ALPHA
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_LOG_FORMAT
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_LOG_LEVEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_MAX_ATTACHMENT_SIZE_MB
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_MAX_CHUNK_CHARS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_MAX_CHUNK_WORDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_MAX_NOTE_READ_BYTES
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_ADVERTISED_SCOPES
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_AUDIENCE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_ID
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_CONFIG_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_JWT_SIGNING_KEY (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_REQUIRED_SCOPES
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OIDC_VERIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OKF_MODE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OKF_VERIFY
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OKF_WRITE
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OLLAMA_CPU_ONLY
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OLLAMA_MODEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OPENAI_BASE_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_OPENAI_EMBEDDING_MODEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_PROMPTS_FOLDER
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_READ_ONLY
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_REPORT_UNRESOLVED_LINKS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_REQUIRED_FIELDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SEARCHABLE_FIELDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SERVER_NAME
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SHUTDOWN_GRACE_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SNIPPET_WORDS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SOURCE_DIR
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_STATE_PATH
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_MAX_INPUT_CHARS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_MAX_NOTES
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_MAX_TOKENS
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_API_KEY (secret)
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_BASE_URL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_OPENAI_MODEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_PROVIDER
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_SUMMARIZE_TIMEOUT
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TEMPLATES_FOLDER
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TITLE_FIELD
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TOOLS_ALLOW
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TOOLS_DENY
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TRANSFER_GRACE_TTL_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TRANSFER_LEASE_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TRANSFER_MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TRANSFER_TTL_DEFAULT_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_TRANSFER_TTL_MAX_S
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_VOYAGE_MODEL
MARKDOWN_VAULT_MCP_WRITE_PROTECT_EXISTING
OLLAMA_HOST
OPENAI_API_KEY (secret)
OPENAI_BASE_URL
OPENAI_EMBEDDING_MODEL
PGID
PUID
VOYAGE_API_KEY (secret)

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

What it can do: Obsidian · What it can do: Markdown Vault 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. Package data comes from the Python Package Index (pypi.org). Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on 2026-10-23. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.