exa vs Lacuna Research MCP
exa is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by exa-labs. Marketplaces we read that list it: 4 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-official, Official MCP Registry, Docker MCP Catalog, Claude: knowledge-work-plugins). 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 2026-10-29. 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 |  exa |  Lacuna Research MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-official | Listed Version: 3.4.1 Forks (GitHub): 404 Stars (GitHub): 5 190 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Listed Version: 3.4.1 Forks (GitHub): 404 Stars (GitHub): 5 190 Not marked · First seen |
Listed Version: 0.6.7 Downloads/month (PyPI): 820 Downloads/week (PyPI): 2 766 Forks (GitHub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 8 Not marked · First seen |
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:d88edd571d98 Forks (GitHub): 404 Pulls (Docker Hub): 37 211 Stars (Docker Hub): 7 Stars (GitHub): 5 190 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Claude: knowledge-work-plugins | Listed Version: 3.4.1 Forks (GitHub): 404 Stars (GitHub): 5 190 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| 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 |
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 | exa | Lacuna Research MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 4 (better) | 2 (worse) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 5 190 (better) | 8 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 37 211 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 404 (better) | 1 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-10-23 |
| Where it runs | Remote server or your machine | Remote server or your machine |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP, stdio | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 2 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 3 | Not a bundle |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/exa-labs/exa-mcp-server | github.com/tiptreesystems/lacuna-research-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 1 | 4 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | Responded 6 days ago | Responded 4 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
exa
Exa AI web search, deep research, and content extraction. Provides MCP tools and research skills for comprehensive web search, people discovery, company research, academic papers, and more.
Lacuna Research MCP
Search Lacuna's ML research graph for papers, directions, authors, venues, and hypotheses.
How to run each
exa As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin install exa@claude-plugins-officialLacuna Research MCP As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http lacuna-research-mcp https://lacuna.tiptreesystems.com/api/mcpCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Both endpoints responded at the last daily check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Only exa has
web_fetch_exaweb_search_exa
Only Lacuna Research MCP has
get_author_contextget_author_directionsget_author_neighborsget_author_papersget_directionget_direction_papersget_hypothesisget_institution_authorsget_institution_contextget_paperget_resourceget_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
The marketplaces of Lacuna Research MCP publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: exa · What it can do: Lacuna Research MCP · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Package data comes from the Python Package Index (pypi.org). Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.