Comparison

Paper Search vs Lacuna Research MCP

Paper Search is an MCP server published by openags. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Lacuna Research MCP is an MCP server published by tiptreesystems. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, PyPI (MCP servers)). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-30. 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	Paper Search	Lacuna Research MCP
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:19d0af269a55 Forks (GitHub): 304 Pulls (Docker Hub): 46 104 Stars (Docker Hub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 2 950 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Not listed
Official MCP Registry	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.6.7 Downloads/month (PyPI): 820 Downloads/week (PyPI): 2 766 Forks (GitHub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 8 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
PyPI (MCP servers)	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.6.7 Downloads/month (PyPI): 820 Downloads/week (PyPI): 2 766 Forks (GitHub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 8 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

Paper Search vs Lacuna Research MCP
Fact	Paper Search	Lacuna Research MCP
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1 (worse)	2 (better)
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	2 950 (better)	8 (worse)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	46 104	No figure on Docker Hub
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	304 (better)	1 (worse)
Last release (differs)	Not published	2026-10-23
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
Licence	MIT	MIT
Repository (differs)	github.com/openags/paper-search-mcp	github.com/tiptreesystems/lacuna-research-mcp
Changes in the last 7 days (differs)	0	2
First seen	2026-10-11	2026-10-11
Endpoint at the last check (differs)	no remote endpoint we check	Responded 5 days 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

In its own words, on Docker MCP Catalog:

MCP, CLI, Skills for searching and downloading academic papers from multiple sources like arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, etc.

Lacuna Research MCP

In its own words, on Official MCP Registry:

Search Lacuna's ML research graph for papers, directions, authors, venues, and hypotheses.

How to run each

Paper Search As a local MCP server: Docker image

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport stdio paper-search -- docker run -i --rm mcp/paper-search

Lacuna Research MCP As a remote MCP server

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http lacuna-research-mcp https://lacuna.tiptreesystems.com/api/mcp

Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.

Only Lacuna Research MCP has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints

Tools each declares

Only Paper Search has

download_arxiv
download_base
download_biorxiv
download_citeseerx
download_crossref
download_dblp
download_doaj
download_hal
download_iacr
download_medrxiv
download_openaire
download_openalex

Show the remaining 45

download_pubmed
download_scihub
download_semantic
download_ssrn
download_with_fallback
download_zenodo
get_crossref_paper_by_doi
read_arxiv_paper
read_base_paper
read_biorxiv_paper
read_citeseerx_paper
read_crossref_paper
read_dblp_paper
read_doaj_paper
read_hal_paper
read_iacr_paper
read_medrxiv_paper
read_openaire_paper
read_openalex_paper
read_pubmed_paper
read_semantic_paper
read_ssrn_paper
read_zenodo_paper
search_arxiv
search_base
search_biorxiv
search_citeseerx
search_core
search_crossref
search_dblp
search_doaj
search_europepmc
search_google_scholar
search_hal
search_iacr
search_medrxiv
search_openaire
search_openalex
search_papers
search_pmc
search_pubmed
search_semantic
search_ssrn
search_unpaywall
search_zenodo

Only Lacuna Research MCP has

get_author_context
get_author_directions
get_author_neighbors
get_author_papers
get_direction
get_direction_papers
get_hypothesis
get_institution_authors
get_institution_context
get_paper
get_resource
get_venue_context

Show the remaining 1

search_lacuna

Both have

None

Tool names as the marketplaces declare them and as Ext Ops observed them on the endpoints (Lacuna Research MCP as of 2026-10-22). 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: Lacuna Research 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 2026-10-30. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.