Monitor vs Phpray

In-depth architectural comparison of the Monitor and Phpray 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 Monitor when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Databases domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Freemium).
• Primary tools included: Exposes 60 MCP tools, Queries Valkey and Redis monitoring data, Analyzes slow commands and hot keys.

Explore Monitor Details

P

Choose Phpray when:

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

Explore Phpray Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Monitor BetterDB-inc Databases	P Phpray Databases
Summary	Valkey-first observability with Redis compatibility. Query real-time metrics, analyze slow commands, detect hot keys, and investigate performance issues directly from AI coding assistants.	Ask an agent why a PHP site is slow: every request with its SQL, HTTP calls, errors and N+1.
Category & Scope	Databases

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": {
    "betterdb-inc-monitor": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@betterdb/monitor"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phpray": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "phpray"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Related MCP Server Comparisons