Met Museum MCP Server vs Exa Search

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

	Met Museum MCP Server Search and explore The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, including artwork details and images, via natural language. Unverified stdio (local) No auth TypeScript	Exa Search Exa's neural web search and crawling MCP server — runs locally via npx or as a hosted remote endpoint. Verified stdio (local) API key TypeScript
Category	Search & Web	Search & Web
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	API key
GitHub stars	30	4.6k
Last commit	2 months ago	19 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y metmuseum-mcp`	`npx -y exa-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Met Museum MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key.

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

Add Met Museum MCP Server

Install / run

npx -y metmuseum-mcp

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "met-museum-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add Exa Search

Install / run

npx -y exa-mcp-server

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "exa-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXA_API_KEY": "<your-exa-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Met Museum MCP Server or Exa Search — which is better?

Pick Met Museum MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key. Pick Exa Search if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Can I use both Met Museum MCP Server and Exa Search?

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 Met Museum MCP Server and Exa Search work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Met Museum MCP Server →View Exa Search →More comparisons →