Paper Search vs Scholar Sidekick
Paper Search is an MCP server published by openags. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Scholar Sidekick is an MCP server published by mlava. Marketplaces we read that list it: 3 (Official MCP Registry, npm registry (MCP servers), Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-22. 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 |  Paper Search |   Scholar Sidekick |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:19d0af269a55 Forks (GitHub): 297 Pulls (Docker Hub): 45 649 Stars (Docker Hub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 2 885 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.8.13 Downloads/month (npm): 983 Downloads/week (npm): 525 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 11 Not marked · First seen |
| npm registry (MCP servers) | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.8.13 Downloads/month (npm): 983 Downloads/week (npm): 525 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 11 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 | Paper Search | Scholar Sidekick |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 3 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 2 885 (better) | 11 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 45 649 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 297 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-16 |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/paper-search) | Remote server or your machine |
| Transport (differs) | stdio | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 57 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 2 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/openags/paper-search-mcp | github.com/mlava/scholar-sidekick-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 3 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | no remote endpoint we check | Responded 38 h ago |
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
Paper Search
MCP, CLI, Skills for searching and downloading academic papers from multiple sources like arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, etc.
Scholar Sidekick
Catch AI-fabricated citations (real DOI + fake title). Retraction, open-access, 10,000+ CSL styles.
How to run each
Paper Search As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --transport stdio paper-search -- docker run -i --rm mcp/paper-searchScholar Sidekick As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http scholar-sidekick-mcp https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/mcpCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only Scholar Sidekick has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Only Paper Search has
download_arxivdownload_basedownload_biorxivdownload_citeseerxdownload_crossrefdownload_dblpdownload_doajdownload_haldownload_iacrdownload_medrxivdownload_openairedownload_openalex
Show the remaining 45
download_pubmeddownload_scihubdownload_semanticdownload_ssrndownload_with_fallbackdownload_zenodoget_crossref_paper_by_doiread_arxiv_paperread_base_paperread_biorxiv_paperread_citeseerx_paperread_crossref_paperread_dblp_paperread_doaj_paperread_hal_paperread_iacr_paperread_medrxiv_paperread_openaire_paperread_openalex_paperread_pubmed_paperread_semantic_paperread_ssrn_paperread_zenodo_papersearch_arxivsearch_basesearch_biorxivsearch_citeseerxsearch_coresearch_crossrefsearch_dblpsearch_doajsearch_europepmcsearch_google_scholarsearch_halsearch_iacrsearch_medrxivsearch_openairesearch_openalexsearch_paperssearch_pmcsearch_pubmedsearch_semanticsearch_ssrnsearch_unpaywallsearch_zenodo
Only Scholar Sidekick has
auditBibliographycheckOpenAccesscheckRetractionexportCitationformatCitationresolveIdentifierverifyCitation
Both have
None
Tool names as the marketplaces declare them and as Ext Ops observed them on the endpoints (Scholar Sidekick as of 2026-10-18). More tools is not better in itself: compare what each needs for the job.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: Paper Search · What it can do: Scholar Sidekick · 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 public npm registry (registry.npmjs.org). 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.