BulkTranscripts YouTube vs Footnote MCP

In-depth architectural comparison of the BulkTranscripts YouTube and Footnote MCP 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 BulkTranscripts YouTube when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Freemium).
• Primary tools included: Single-video transcript retrieval, Batch transcripts for up to 20 videos, Multi-type YouTube search.

Explore BulkTranscripts YouTube Details

Choose Footnote MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: web_search, web_search_recent, web_deep_search.

Explore Footnote MCP Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	BulkTranscripts YouTube VerifiedSearch & Data Extraction	Footnote MCP Search & Data Extraction
Summary	Hosted remote MCP server (https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp) for YouTube. Tools: get_transcript, get_transcripts (batch of 20), search_youtube (videos/channels/playlists), search_channel, get_channel_videos (up to 1,000), get_playlist_videos, get_latest_videos (free RSS). Clean paragraphed transcripts, any caption language, TikTok videos too. No signup: free tier per IP, optional one-time credit packs; license key = Bearer API key. Works with Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, VS Code, Codex. REST API + OpenAPI at /docs.	Source-grounded web research: search, extraction, verification, and browser automation.

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": {
    "bulktranscripts-youtube": {
      "url": "https://bulktranscripts.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "footnote-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "footnote-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Related MCP Server Comparisons