A side-by-side look at the MCP Engine (for Power BI) and PowerBI MCP Server MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose MCP Engine (for Power BI) for data visualization work; choose PowerBI MCP Server for data visualization as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
POWERBI_TENANT_ID, POWERBI_CLIENT_ID, POWERBI_CLIENT_SECRET.top, detail, workspace_id.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Data Visualization | Data Visualization |
| Quality signal | 35/100 · Fair | 49/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Not confirmed yet | Confirmed |
| Transport | — | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | POWERBI_TENANT_IDPOWERBI_CLIENT_IDPOWERBI_CLIENT_SECRET |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 256 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 6 |
| Full listing | View MCP Engine (for Power BI) | View PowerBI MCP Server |
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
topdetailworkspace_iddataset_idformatdax_queryPaste 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.
No confirmed install command for MCP Engine (for Power BI) yet — follow the setup steps linked from its listing page rather than a guessed package name.
{
"mcpServers": {
"powerbi-mcp-server": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"powerbi-mcp"
],
"env": {
"POWERBI_TENANT_ID": "YOUR_POWERBI_TENANT_ID_HERE",
"POWERBI_CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_POWERBI_CLIENT_ID_HERE",
"POWERBI_CLIENT_SECRET": "YOUR_POWERBI_CLIENT_SECRET_HERE"
}
}
}
}