YouTube Transcript AI vs Open Notebook

In-depth architectural comparison of the YouTube Transcript AI and Open Notebook 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?

Y

Choose YouTube Transcript AI when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: get_youtube_transcript.

Explore YouTube Transcript AI Details

Choose Open Notebook when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: search_capabilities.

Explore Open Notebook Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Y YouTube Transcript AI Developer Tools	Open Notebook Developer Tools
Summary	Fetch the full transcript of any YouTube video as clean text. No API key, no signup.	MCP server that wraps the Open Notebook API
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Quality signal

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": {
    "youtube-transcript-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://youtube-transcript.ai/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "open-notebook": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/inspector"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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