Aria Icons vs Better Design
A side-by-side look at the Aria Icons and Better Design MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Aria Icons for developer tools work as a local process; choose Better Design for developer tools over a hosted endpoint. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Aria Icons when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
Choose Better Design when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Quality signal | 49/100 · Fair | 36/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Remote HTTP/SSE |
| Auth | No auth required | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner |
Tools & capabilities
Aria Icons tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Better Design tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Aria Icons
{
"mcpServers": {
"aria-icons": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"aria-icons@latest"
]
}
}
}
Better Design
{
"mcpServers": {
"better-design": {
"url": "https://better-design.com/api/mcp"
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Aria Icons is categorized under Developer Tools and uses a local stdio subprocess. Better Design belongs to Developer Tools and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. Pick Aria Icons for developer tools work and Better Design for developer tools.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Aria Icons is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. Better Design has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add aria-icons and better-design as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Aria Icons has a quality signal of 49/100 (Fair) with 2 views, 0 installs and 87 GitHub stars. Better Design has 36/100 (Fair) with 0 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars.