What is the key difference between Metmuseum MCP and Open Museum MCP?

Metmuseum MCP belongs to the Art & Culture category with local stdio execution, while Open Museum MCP belongs to the Art & Culture category with local stdio execution.

How do I install Metmuseum MCP or Open Museum MCP in Claude Desktop or Cursor?

Copy the mcpServers JSON configuration snippet provided on this page into your claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json file and restart your AI client.

Are Metmuseum MCP and Open Museum MCP free or paid?

Metmuseum MCP operates under a Free / Open Source model (No auth required). Open Museum MCP operates under a Free / Open Source model (API Key required).

Which MCP server has more tools and community activity?

Metmuseum MCP lists 4 tools with 5 views and 35 GitHub stars. Open Museum MCP lists 6 tools with 3 views and 13 GitHub stars.

Can I use both Metmuseum MCP and Open Museum MCP together in the same MCP host?

Yes! MCP hosts like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and VS Code support configuring multiple servers under the mcpServers object simultaneously.

Side-by-Side Model Context Protocol Comparison

Metmuseum MCP vs Open Museum MCP

In-depth architectural comparison of the Metmuseum MCP and Open Museum MCP MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

At a Glance & Executive Verdict

Metmuseum MCP

Art & Culture · Local stdio

Quality: 64/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required

Open Museum MCP

Art & Culture · Local stdio

Quality: 59/100 (Good) | Auth: API Key required

Verdict Summary: Choose Metmuseum MCP if you need specialized Art & Culture tools running via a local process. Choose Open Museum MCP if your workspace requires Art & Culture integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Metmuseum MCP when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Art & Culture domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Primary tools included: list-departments, search-museum-objects, get-museum-object.

Explore Metmuseum MCP Details

Choose Open Museum MCP when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Art & Culture domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Free / Open Source).
Primary tools included: Federated museum and cultural-collection search, Strict default-deny rights verification, Normalized artwork metadata.

Explore Open Museum MCP Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Metmuseum MCP mikechao Art & Culture	Open Museum MCP cfpramod Art & Culture
Summary	Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API integration to search and display artworks in the collection.	Federated, license-verified search across The Met, Cleveland, AIC, Wikimedia Commons, and Europeana. Strict-default-deny rights gate accepts only CC0 / Public Domain Mark. Tools: search, get, cite (full / caption / short), dynasty/region discovery. npx -y open-museum-mcp
Category & Scope

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Metmuseum MCP Tools (4)

list-departments

List all departments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Museum)

search-museum-objects

Search for objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Museum). Will return Total objects found, followed by a paginated list of Object Ids. If the Met Explorer app (open-met-explorer) is open and the user is referring to its existing results, prefer using those results from context instead of calling this tool. The parameter title should be set to true if you want to search for objects by title. The parameter hasImages is false by default, but can be set to true to return only objects with images. Additional optional filters are available for highlights, tags, on-view status, artist/culture match, medium, geographic location, and date range. Use page and pageSize to paginate results.

get-museum-object

Get a museum object by its ID, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection. Use this when the user asks for deeper details on a specific object ID.

open-met-explorer

Open the interactive Met Explorer app for browsing and filtering objects. For exploration intents, pass q so the app can run a live search on open. After opening, keep your chat handoff short and UI-focused. For deeper details on a specific object ID, prefer get-museum-object.

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

Metmuseum MCP Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mikechao-metmuseum-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Open Museum MCP Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cfpramod-open-museum-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "open-museum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Metmuseum MCP is categorized under Art & Culture and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Open Museum MCP belongs to Art & Culture using local stdio subprocess. Select Metmuseum MCP when you need capabilities focused on art & culture and Open Museum MCP when you require tools for art & culture.

More alternatives to Metmuseum MCP More alternatives to Open Museum MCP Art & Culture category hub Canonical compare URL