MarkItDown MCP vs mcp-pandoc

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

	MarkItDown MCP Give your agent Microsoft's MarkItDown: convert PDFs, Office docs, images, and URLs into LLM-ready Markdown. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Python	mcp-pandoc Document format conversion (Markdown, HTML, LaTeX, DOCX, PDF, and more) via Pandoc over MCP. Verified stdio (local) No auth Stale Python
Category	Files & Storage	Files & Storage
Language	Python	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	162k	500
Last commit	1 month ago	8 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`pip install markitdown-mcp`	`uvx mcp-pandoc`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

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

Pick mcp-pandoc if you want a verified, documented setup.

Add MarkItDown MCP

Install / run

pip install markitdown-mcp

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markitdown-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "markitdown-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires Docker to be installed and running.

Add mcp-pandoc

Install / run

uvx mcp-pandoc

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-pandoc": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-pandoc"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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

FAQ

MarkItDown MCP or mcp-pandoc — which is better?

Pick MarkItDown MCP if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option. Pick mcp-pandoc if you want a verified, documented setup.

Can I use both MarkItDown MCP and mcp-pandoc?

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 MarkItDown MCP and mcp-pandoc work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View MarkItDown MCP →View mcp-pandoc →More comparisons →