In-depth architectural comparison of the Yelp and Catalog 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
Yelp
Developer Tools · Remote HTTP/SSE
Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Catalog
Developer Tools · Local stdio
Quality: 52/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required
Verdict Summary: Choose Yelp if you need specialized Developer Tools tools running via a hosted cloud SSE transport. Choose Catalog if your workspace requires Developer Tools integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.
Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
Y
Choose Yelp when:
You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Search for local businesses and restaurants on Yelp by term and location. Returns matching businesses with star ratings, review counts, price, categories, address, and phone. Example: search_businesses({ term: "pizza", location: "San Francisco, CA" }).
get_business
Get full details for a single Yelp business by its id or alias. Returns rating, review count, price, categories, address, phone, hours, photos, and coordinates. Example: get_business({ id: "garaje-san-francisco" }).
get_reviews
⚠️ UPSTREAM-UNRELIABLE — Yelp Fusion's /reviews endpoint has been 404-ing on most ids since mid-2026 even for valid businesses. PREFER `get_business` (which sometimes inlines a snippet) or `search_businesses` for review-context queries. If you must call get_reviews: pass the ENCRYPTED business id (…
Catalog Tools (7)
list_mfo
All MFOs with borrower rating, quick terms and canonical card URLs, ordered by rating position.
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).
Yelp is categorized under Developer Tools and uses a remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. In contrast, Catalog belongs to Developer Tools using local stdio subprocess. Select Yelp when you need capabilities focused on developer tools and Catalog when you require tools for developer tools.
Full MFO card: terms for new/repeat clients (amount, term, rate, full cost of credit), borrower requirements, fees, legal entity, OGRN, Bank of Russia registry number, 4-criteria rating, record update date. Empty fields are omitted.
Catalog categories grouped as on the site (popular, by payout method, by amount/term, by borrower type, other), each with its selection criterion.
get_category
One category: criterion, sorting, offer table with per-MFO terms.
get_reviews
Latest borrower reviews for an MFO: rating, date, text.
get_market_rules
Legal context of microlending in Russia (0.8%/day rate cap under Art. 6.1 of Law 353-FZ, 100% total-cost cap since 2026-04-01, self-ban via Gosuslugi, cooling-off periods, debt collection rules under Law 230-FZ) with last-review date.