SearchForge vs Open WebSearch
A side-by-side look at the SearchForge and Open WebSearch MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose SearchForge for search & data extraction work; choose Open WebSearch for search & data extraction as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose SearchForge when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You have the keys it needs:
SEARCHFORGE_SEARXNG_URL, SEARCHFORGE_API_KEY.
Choose Open WebSearch when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
search, fetchLinuxDoArticle, fetchCsdnArticle.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search & Data Extraction | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 40/100 · Fair | 72/100 · Great |
| Install command | Not confirmed yet | Confirmed |
| Transport | — | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | No auth required |
| Pricing | Not declared | Free |
| Required env vars | SEARCHFORGE_SEARXNG_URLSEARCHFORGE_API_KEY | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 2 | 1,872 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 8 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 6 |
| Full listing | View SearchForge | View Open WebSearch |
Tools & capabilities
SearchForge tools
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Open WebSearch tools 6
searchSearch the web using multiple engines (e.g., Baidu, Bing, DuckDuckGo, CSDN, Exa, Brave, Juejin(掘金), Startpage, Sogou(搜狗)) with no API key required. searchMode meanings: omit or set auto to use the server configured SEARCH_MODE; request forces request-based search; playwright forces browser-based search.fetchLinuxDoArticleFetch full article content from a linux.do post URLfetchCsdnArticleFetch full article content from a csdn post URLfetchGithubReadmeFetch README content from a GitHub repository URLfetchWebContentFetch content from a public HTTP(S) URL (supports Markdown files and normal web pages)fetchJuejinArticleFetch full article content from a Juejin(掘金) post URL
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.
SearchForge
No confirmed install command for SearchForge yet — follow the setup steps linked from its listing page rather than a guessed package name.
Open WebSearch
{
"mcpServers": {
"aas-ee-open-websearch": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"open-websearch@latest"
]
}
}
}