Heroku MCP Server vs Radar

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

	Heroku MCP Server Manage Heroku apps, dynos, add-ons, pipelines, and Postgres from your AI agent via the official Heroku CLI. Unverified stdio (local) API key TypeScript	Radar Built-in MCP server for the open-source Kubernetes UI — lets AI assistants query and operate your cluster. Unverified HTTP (remote) No auth Go
Category	DevOps & Cloud	DevOps & Cloud
Language	TypeScript	Go
Transport	stdio (local)	HTTP (remote)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	78	2.4k
Last commit	3 days ago	14 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y @heroku/mcp-server`	`curl -fsSL https://get.radarhq.io \| sh`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Heroku MCP Server if you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick Radar if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install.

Add Heroku MCP Server

Install / run

npx -y @heroku/mcp-server

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "heroku-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@heroku/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "HEROKU_API_KEY": "<your-heroku-auth-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add Radar

Install / run

curl -fsSL https://get.radarhq.io | sh

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "radar": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "http://localhost:9280/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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

FAQ

Heroku MCP Server or Radar — which is better?

Pick Heroku MCP Server if you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine, and you need the broadest set of tools. Pick Radar if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install.

Can I use both Heroku MCP Server and Radar?

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 Heroku MCP Server and Radar work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Heroku MCP Server →View Radar →More comparisons →