Grafana Tempo MCP Server vs Elasticsearch MCP Server

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

	Grafana Tempo MCP Server Query distributed traces in Grafana Tempo with TraceQL (archived; Tempo now has embedded MCP). Unverified stdio (local) No auth Go	Elasticsearch MCP Server Official Elastic server: list indices, read mappings, and search with Query DSL. Verified stdio (local) API key TypeScript
Category	Monitoring & Observability	Monitoring & Observability
Language	Go	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	API key
GitHub stars	90	700
Last commit	2 months ago	4 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`docker run -i --rm -e TEMPO_URL grafana/tempo-mcp-server`	`docker run -i --rm -e ES_URL -e ES_API_KEY docker.elastic.co/mcp/elasticsearch stdio`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

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

Pick Elasticsearch MCP Server if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

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.

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.

FAQ

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

Pick Grafana Tempo MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key. Pick Elasticsearch MCP Server if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Can I use both Grafana Tempo MCP Server and Elasticsearch 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 Grafana Tempo MCP Server and Elasticsearch MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

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