Scholar RAG MCP vs Paper Distill MCP

In-depth architectural comparison of the Scholar RAG MCP and Paper Distill 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.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Scholar RAG MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Scholar RAG MCP Details

Choose Paper Distill MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).

Explore Paper Distill MCP Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Scholar RAG MCP Knowledge & Memory	Paper Distill MCP Knowledge & Memory
Summary	Academic paper knowledge-base MCP server: PDF ingest, vector search with reranking, KB management.	Academic paper search across 11 sources with AI curation, ranked push, Zotero and Obsidian support.
Category & Scope	Knowledge & Memory	Knowledge & Memory

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

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).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scholar-rag-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "scholar-rag-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paper-distill-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "paper-distill-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Related MCP Server Comparisons