A side-by-side look at the Fetch URL MCP Server and Fetch MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Fetch URL MCP Server for search & data extraction work as a local process; choose Fetch MCP for search & data extraction as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
fetch-url.fetch_html, fetch_markdown, fetch_txt.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search & Data Extraction | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 45/100 · Fair | 60/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | No auth required |
| Pricing | Not declared | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 829 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 1 | 6 |
| Full listing | View Fetch URL MCP Server | View Fetch MCP |
fetch-urlTakes a URL and returns Markdown. Read-only, with no JavaScript execution. Supports running as a background MCP task for large or slow pages. In task mode, `tasks/get` and `tasks/list` expose task summaries including `status`, `statusMessage`, `createdAt`, `lastUpdatedAt`, `ttl`, and `pollInterval`…fetch_htmlFetch a website and return its raw HTML content.fetch_markdownFetch a website and return its content converted to Markdown.fetch_txtFetch a website and return plain text with HTML tags, scripts, and styles removed.fetch_jsonFetch a URL and return the JSON response.fetch_readableFetch a website and extract the main article content using [Mozilla Readability](https://github.com/mozilla/readability), returned as Markdown. Strips navigation, ads, and boilerplate. Ideal for articles and blog posts.fetch_youtube_transcriptFetch a YouTube video's captions/transcript. Uses `yt-dlp` if available, otherwise extracts directly from the page. Accepts an additional `lang` parameter (default: `"en"`) to select the caption language.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.
{
"mcpServers": {
"fetch-url-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@j0hanz/fetch-url-mcp@latest"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"zcaceres-fetch-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-fetch"
]
}
}
}