MarkItDown MCP vs Apache OpenDAL MCP Server

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	Apache OpenDAL MCP Server Access S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage and many more storage services through one unified MCP interface. Unverified stdio (local) API key Stale Python
Category	Files & Storage	Files & Storage
Language	Python	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	API key
GitHub stars	162k	34
Last commit	1 month ago	1 year ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`pip install markitdown-mcp`	`pip install mcp-server-opendal`
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 Apache OpenDAL MCP Server if you prefer its approach (access s3, azure blob, google cloud storage and many more storage services through one unified mcp interface).

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 Apache OpenDAL MCP Server

Install / run

pip install mcp-server-opendal

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apache-opendal-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server-opendal"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YOUR_ENV_VAR": "YOUR_ENV_VALUE"
      }
    }
  }
}

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

FAQ

MarkItDown MCP or Apache OpenDAL MCP Server — which is better?

Pick MarkItDown MCP if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option. Pick Apache OpenDAL MCP Server if you prefer its approach (access s3, azure blob, google cloud storage and many more storage services through one unified mcp interface).

Can I use both MarkItDown MCP and Apache OpenDAL 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 MarkItDown MCP and Apache OpenDAL MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View MarkItDown MCP →View Apache OpenDAL MCP Server →More comparisons →