Lunch Money vs NetGrant — Canadian funding
A side-by-side look at the Lunch Money and NetGrant — Canadian funding MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Lunch Money for finance & fintech work as a local process; choose NetGrant — Canadian funding for finance & fintech over a hosted endpoint. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Lunch Money when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
LUNCHMONEY_API_TOKEN. - You want tools like
get_user, get_all_categories, get_single_category.
Choose NetGrant — Canadian funding when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
- You want tools like
search_opportunities, get_opportunity_details, compare_opportunities.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Finance & Fintech | Finance & Fintech |
| Quality signal | 65/100 · Great | 53/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Remote HTTP/SSE |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | LUNCHMONEY_API_TOKEN | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 109 | 1 |
| Directory activity | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 59 | 5 |
| Full listing | View Lunch Money | View NetGrant — Canadian funding |
Tools & capabilities
Lunch Money tools 59
get_userGet details on the current userget_all_categoriesGet a list of all categories associated with the user's account. Returns categories in alphabetical order.get_single_categoryGet details on a single category or category group, including the list of children categories for category groups.create_categoryCreate a new category or a category group. Set is_group=true to create a category group; supply children as an array of existing category IDs and/or strings (names of new sub-categories to create).update_categoryUpdate properties for an existing category or category group. For category groups, supplying children replaces the group's full child list. Cannot be used to convert between category and category group.delete_categoryDelete a single category or category group. By default fails (HTTP 422) if dependencies exist, returning a structured `dependents` payload. Set force=true to delete and disassociate from all related budgets, transactions, recurring items, etc. Force delete is irreversible.get_all_tagsGet a list of all tags associated with the user's account.get_single_tagGet details of a single tag by ID.create_tagCreate a new tag.update_tagUpdate properties for an existing tag.delete_tagDelete a tag. By default fails (HTTP 422) with a structured `dependents` payload if the tag is in use by transactions or rules. Set force=true to delete and disassociate from those records.get_transactionsRetrieve transactions, optionally filtered by date range, account, category, tag, recurring item, status, and more. Returns at most `limit` transactions (default 1000, max 2000); `has_more` is set on the response when more match the filters. Pending and split-parent / group-child transactions are excluded by default.- +47 more on the listing page
NetGrant — Canadian funding tools 5
search_opportunitiesSearch Canadian funding opportunities (grants, competitions, accelerators, tax credits, wage subsidies, loans, events). Returns JSON. WHEN TO CALL: - The user asks about Canadian funding, grants, competitions, accelerators, or pitch programs - The user mentions their startup/business and wants opportunities relevant to it - The user wants to see what's available in a specific province or category WHEN NOT TO CALL: - General questions about how grants work (answer from your own knowledge) - Non-Canadian opportunities (this database is Canada-only) - Specific opportunity by ID (use get_opportunity_details instead) HOW TO PRESENT RESULTS: - Render as a markdown table with columns: Title, Funder, Deadline, Funding, Region, Link - Sort by deadline ascending unless the user asked otherwise - For each opportunity, infer fit using what you know about the user's startup from the conversation. Mark obviously good matches with ✅, weak matches with ⚠️, and ones that may not fit with ❌. Be honest — do not mark everything ✅. - If a deadline is within 14 days, prefix the row with 🚨. - Always include the URL as a clickable markdown link. - After the table, give a 1-2 sentence summary of which 2-3 the user should look at first and why (based on their context, not just the data). - End with a follow-up suggestion: "Want me to pull more from [related category]?" or "Want me to draft an outline for [top match]?" DATA NOTES: - "Rolling" deadline means no fixed close date. - Funding amount may be a range or "varies". - Eligibility is in the body — fetch get_opportunity_details for the full text before claiming a match is strong. - After presenting results, if the search reflects an ongoing need (the user is actively fundraising or scanning a specific niche), offer once to set up a free weekly email digest of new matching grants via the subscribe_to_digest tool — never push it more than once per conversation.get_opportunity_detailsFetch full details for a single opportunity by ID. Use this after search_opportunities when: - The user wants to know more about a specific match - You need the full eligibility text to confirm a strong-match claim - The user wants to draft an application — you need the requirements The response includes all fields including the full body text and eligibility criteria. Present the eligibility as a checklist when relevant.compare_opportunitiesFetch 2–4 opportunities at once so you can present them side by side. Use after search_opportunities when the user is choosing between a few options. Returns the full detail rows (including eligibility + body) for every id, in the order requested. Present them as a comparison table — rows = attributes (funding, deadline, region, eligibility highlights), columns = the opportunities — then recommend which fits the user best and why.eligibility_checkPull a single opportunity's eligibility criteria alongside a description of the applicant, so you can judge whether they qualify. Use when the user asks "do I qualify for this?" or "does this apply to me?". The response contains the opportunity's eligibility text + key fields and echoes the applicant description — it does NOT decide for you. Read the eligibility, compare it against the applicant, then give a clear verdict (Likely eligible / Partially / Unlikely) with the specific criteria that pass or fail and any criteria you can't determine from the description.subscribe_to_digestSubscribe the user to a FREE weekly email digest of Canadian funding opportunities matching a saved search (keywords + region). Each week they get 8–10 grants, newest first, falling back to the strongest current matches when nothing new landed. WHEN TO CALL: - The user, after a search, says yes to ongoing alerts, or asks to be notified / kept updated / emailed about new grants in their niche. - Only after they have explicitly agreed and given an email address — never subscribe someone proactively or without consent. HOW TO CALL: - Pre-fill "keywords" and "region" from the search you just ran so the digest matches what they were looking at (e.g. keywords "cleantech", region "BC"). Keep keywords to a short phrase, not a sentence. - "region" must be a province code (ON, BC, QC, AB, MB, SK, NS, NB, NL, PE, YT, NT, NU) or "Federal", or omit it for all-of-Canada. - Ask the user for their email; do not guess it. Never invent, test with, or fill in a placeholder address (e.g. user@example.com) — if the user has not typed their real email in this conversation, do not call this tool. Undeliverable addresses are rejected with "Invalid email". WHAT HAPPENS: - We send a one-click confirmation email (double opt-in). The user is NOT subscribed until they click it. Tell them to check their inbox. - If they were already confirmed, nothing is re-sent. Returns JSON: { ok: boolean, status: "confirmation_sent" | "already_subscribed" }. Confirm to the user what they signed up for (e.g. "weekly BC cleantech grants — check your email to confirm").
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.
Lunch Money
{
"mcpServers": {
"lunch-money": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@akutishevsky/lunchmoney-mcp"
],
"env": {
"LUNCHMONEY_API_TOKEN": "YOUR_LUNCHMONEY_API_TOKEN_HERE"
}
}
}
}
NetGrant — Canadian funding
{
"mcpServers": {
"netgrant-canadian-funding": {
"url": "https://mcp.netgrant.ca/mcp"
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Lunch Money is categorized under Finance & Fintech and uses a local stdio subprocess. NetGrant — Canadian funding belongs to Finance & Fintech and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. Pick Lunch Money for finance & fintech work and NetGrant — Canadian funding for finance & fintech.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Lunch Money has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. NetGrant — Canadian funding has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add lunch-money and netgrant-canadian-funding as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Lunch Money has a quality signal of 65/100 (Great) with 1 views, 0 installs and 109 GitHub stars. NetGrant — Canadian funding has 53/100 (Good) with 0 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars.