A side-by-side look at the Podcast Commerce MCP and Podcastindex MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Podcast Commerce MCP for podcasts work as a local process; choose Podcastindex for podcasts as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
OPENAI_API_KEY.extract_podcast_products, analyze_episode_sponsors, track_product_trends.search_podcasts, get_podcast, episodes.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Podcasts | Podcasts |
| Quality signal | 48/100 · Fair | 53/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | OPENAI_API_KEY | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 5 | 4 |
| Full listing | View Podcast Commerce MCP | View Podcastindex |
extract_podcast_productsExtract products/brands from a transcript with confidence scoresanalyze_episode_sponsorsIdentify sponsor segments and estimate read-through ratestrack_product_trendsCompare product mentions across multiple episodescompare_products_across_showsCross-show product ranking with entity resolution across multiple showsgenerate_show_notes_sectionFormat extracted products as a shoppable show notes sectionsearch_podcastsPodcast search by term. Find podcasts in the open podcast database by name or keyword. Returns matching podcasts with title, author, description, categories, episode count, and artwork. Example: search_podcasts({ query: "true crime", max: 10 })get_podcastGet full metadata for a single podcast by its Podcast Index feed ID. Returns title, author, description, owner, episode count, categories, language, and artwork. Example: get_podcast({ feed_id: 920666 })episodesList recent episodes for a podcast by its Podcast Index feed ID. Returns episode title, description, publish date, duration, audio URL, and episode/season numbers. Example: episodes({ feed_id: 920666, max: 10 })trendingGet trending podcasts across the open podcast database, ranked by recent activity. Optionally filter by language or category. Returns podcast title, author, categories, artwork, and trend score. Example: trending({ max: 10, lang: "en", cat: "Technology" })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": {
"podcast-commerce-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"podcast-commerce-mcp"
],
"env": {
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"podcastindex": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-podcastindex"
]
}
}
}