A side-by-side look at the Llmintel MCP and MCP Openai MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Llmintel MCP for conversational ai work as a local process; choose MCP Openai for conversational ai as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
LLMINTEL_API_KEY, LLMINTEL_BASE_URL.check_model, list_retiring_models, suggest_replacement.OPENAI_API_KEY.messages, model.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Conversational AI | Conversational AI |
| Quality signal | 57/100 · Good | 55/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | API key required |
| Pricing | Free | BYOK (pay the provider) |
| Required env vars | LLMINTEL_API_KEYLLMINTEL_BASE_URL | OPENAI_API_KEY |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 77 |
| Directory activity | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 6 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 5 | 2 |
| Full listing | View Llmintel MCP | View MCP Openai |
check_modelWhether one model id is safe to use: lifecycle state, the retirement deadline in days, the replacement, and the source link.list_retiring_modelsWhat breaks in the next 90 days. Past-due models are listed first, then upcoming ones soonest-first.suggest_replacementThe provider's own recommendation for what to move to. Falls back to same-provider active models when none was published.search_modelsCatalog search filtered by provider and lifecycle state.recent_lifecycle_changesThe change feed across all providers, for questions like "what was deprecated this month".messagesArray of messages (required)modelWhich model to use (optional, defaults to gpt-4o)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": {
"hivemindunit-llmintel-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@llmintel/mcp"
],
"env": {
"LLMINTEL_API_KEY": "YOUR_LLMINTEL_API_KEY_HERE",
"LLMINTEL_BASE_URL": "YOUR_LLMINTEL_BASE_URL_HERE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"mzxrai-mcp-openai": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@mzxrai/mcp-openai@latest"
],
"env": {
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}