Alpha Vantage MCP vs MCP X402 Pay

In-depth architectural comparison of the Alpha Vantage MCP and MCP X402 Pay MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Alpha Vantage MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Alpha Vantage MCP Details

Choose MCP X402 Pay when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore MCP X402 Pay Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Alpha Vantage MCP Finance & Fintech	MCP X402 Pay Finance & Fintech
Summary	Real-time financial market data: stocks, forex, crypto, commodities, and economic indicators	MCP server that pays x402-gated HTTP endpoints — fetch, and on a 402 authorize, sign, retry
Category & Scope	Finance & Fintech	Finance & Fintech

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alpha-vantage-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "marketdata-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-x402-pay": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-x402-pay"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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