Alpaca MCP Server vs Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote)

A side-by-side comparison of two Finance & Payments servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	Alpaca MCP Server Alpaca's official trading server for stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto in plain English. Verified stdio (local) API key Python	Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) Plaid's official remote MCP server for integration diagnostics, analytics, and docs via OAuth. Verified SSE (remote) OAuth Stale TypeScript
Category	Finance & Payments	Finance & Payments
Language	Python	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	SSE (remote)
Auth	API key	OAuth
GitHub stars	820	0
Last commit	2 months ago	unknown
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`uvx alpaca-mcp-server`	`Add remote MCP URL https://api.dashboard.plaid.com/mcp/sse (OAuth)`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Alpaca MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine.

Pick Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) if you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install.

Add Alpaca MCP Server

Install / run

uvx alpaca-mcp-server

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpaca-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "alpaca-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALPACA_API_KEY": "<your-alpaca-api-key>",
        "ALPACA_SECRET_KEY": "<your-alpaca-secret-key>",
        "ALPACA_PAPER_TRADE": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires `uv` (the Python package runner). Install it from https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ if `uvx` is not found.

Add Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote)

Install / run

Add remote MCP URL https://api.dashboard.plaid.com/mcp/sse (OAuth)

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "plaid-dashboard-mcp-remote": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.dashboard.plaid.com/mcp/sse"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop connects to remote servers through the `mcp-remote` proxy (installed on first run via npx). Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

FAQ

Alpaca MCP Server or Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) — which is better?

Pick Alpaca MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine. Pick Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) if you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install.

Can I use both Alpaca MCP Server and Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote)?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do Alpaca MCP Server and Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View Alpaca MCP Server →View Plaid Dashboard MCP (Remote) →More comparisons →