Plane MCP Server vs Excel MCP Server

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

	Plane MCP Server Official Plane MCP server: manage projects, work items, cycles, modules, and initiatives from AI agents. Unverified stdio (local) API key Python	Excel MCP Server Create, read, and modify Excel workbooks with your AI agent — no Microsoft Excel required. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Python
Category	Productivity	Productivity
Language	Python	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	253	3.9k
Last commit	1 day ago	2 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	—	`uvx excel-mcp-server stdio`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Plane MCP Server if you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick Excel MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key.

Add Plane MCP Server

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "plane-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "plane-mcp-server",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PLANE_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>",
        "PLANE_WORKSPACE_SLUG": "<your-workspace-slug>",
        "PLANE_BASE_URL": "https://api.plane.so"
      }
    }
  }
}

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

Add Excel MCP Server

Install / run

uvx excel-mcp-server stdio

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "excel-mcp-server",
        "stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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

FAQ

Plane MCP Server or Excel MCP Server — which is better?

Pick Plane MCP Server if you need the broadest set of tools. Pick Excel MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key.

Can I use both Plane MCP Server and Excel 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 Plane MCP Server and Excel MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Plane MCP Server →View Excel MCP Server →More comparisons →