Elasticsearch MCP Server vs Grafana Tempo MCP Server

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

	Elasticsearch MCP Server Official Elastic server: list indices, read mappings, and search with Query DSL. Verified stdio (local) API key TypeScript	Grafana Tempo MCP Server Query distributed traces in Grafana Tempo with TraceQL (archived; Tempo now has embedded MCP). Unverified stdio (local) No auth Go
Category	Monitoring & Observability	Monitoring & Observability
Language	TypeScript	Go
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	700	90
Last commit	5 months ago	4 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`docker run -i --rm -e ES_URL -e ES_API_KEY docker.elastic.co/mcp/elasticsearch stdio`	`docker run -i --rm -e TEMPO_URL grafana/tempo-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Elasticsearch MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick Grafana Tempo MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key.

Add Elasticsearch MCP Server

Install / run

docker run -i --rm -e ES_URL -e ES_API_KEY docker.elastic.co/mcp/elasticsearch stdio

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "ES_URL",
        "-e",
        "ES_API_KEY",
        "docker.elastic.co/mcp/elasticsearch",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ES_URL": "<your-elasticsearch-cluster-url>",
        "ES_API_KEY": "<your-elasticsearch-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires Docker to be installed and running.

Add Grafana Tempo MCP Server

Install / run

docker run -i --rm -e TEMPO_URL grafana/tempo-mcp-server

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana-tempo-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "TEMPO_URL",
        "grafana/tempo-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TEMPO_URL": "<your-tempo-query-endpoint>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires Docker to be installed and running.

FAQ

Elasticsearch MCP Server or Grafana Tempo MCP Server — which is better?

Pick Elasticsearch MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools. Pick Grafana Tempo MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key.

Can I use both Elasticsearch MCP Server and Grafana Tempo MCP Server?

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 Elasticsearch MCP Server and Grafana Tempo MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Elasticsearch MCP Server →View Grafana Tempo MCP Server →More comparisons →