Apify MCP server vs Bright Data MCP server
Apify MCP server and Bright Data MCP server are MCP implementations in Search and retrieval. Publisher class, status, transport, auth, tool coverage, hosting, and last checked appear only with a source. A field without one says Not documented upstream. This page is not a ranking.
| Field | Apify | Bright Data |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Apify is an MCP server for web search and page scraping with scrapers and crawlers from the Apify Store. | Bright Data is an MCP server for web search and page scraping, including structured extraction from public pages. |
| Category | Search and retrieval | Search and retrieval |
| Publisher class | Unknown. Not confirmed from the repository org, a registry namespace, or a redirect. Unknown is the default. source | Unknown. Not confirmed from the repository org, a registry namespace, or a redirect. Unknown is the default. source |
| Status | Not documented upstream source | Not documented upstream source |
| Transport | Hosted transport is streamable HTTP. The README says the legacy SSE endpoint https://mcp.apify.com/sse has been removed. Local transport is stdio. source | The hosted Claude Code example uses HTTP (--transport http). The local example is an npx command. The README does not name stdio for that local command. source |
| Auth | OAuth, or an Authorization: Bearer header with an Apify token. The local command sets the APIFY_TOKEN environment variable to your Apify API token. The README says unauthenticated hosted access is allowed only when the tools query is limited to search-actors, fetch-actor-details, search-apify-docs, fetch-apify-docs, apify-api-search, and apify-api-details. source | An API token is required. The hosted URL takes it as the token query parameter. The local example sets API_TOKEN. source |
| Tool coverage | Extract data from social media, search engines, maps, e-commerce sites, and other websites using thousands of scrapers, crawlers, and automation tools from the Apify Store. source | Web search for Google, Bing, and Yandex, returned as structured data. Scrape a URL to Markdown or HTML. The README says bot detection, CAPTCHA solving, and proxy rotation are handled on each request. Structured JSON from pre-built scrapers. The overview says 1,200+ scrapers and names six tools that find and run them. Browser automation in a remote browser: navigate, click, type, screenshot, and read pages. Collect LLM responses by sending prompts to ChatGPT and Perplexity. source |
| Hosting | Hosted at https://mcp.apify.com, which the README recommends, and local via npx @apify/actors-mcp-server. source | Hosted remote server at https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp, or a local instance via npx @brightdata/mcp. source |
| Last checked | 2026-10-15 source | 2026-10-15 source |
| Listing link | https://github.com/apify/apify-mcp-server | https://github.com/luminati-io/brightdata-mcp |
| Repository | https://github.com/apify/apify-mcp-server | https://github.com/luminati-io/brightdata-mcp |
| Homepage | https://mcp.apify.com | https://brightdata.com/ai/mcp-server |
| Source | https://github.com/apify/apify-mcp-server/blob/master/README.md | https://github.com/luminati-io/brightdata-mcp/blob/main/README.md |
Connect it: Apify
from vendor docs, not tested by us
Configuration validation checks that these snippets parse and include every environment variable named in the Auth fact. It is not a connection test.
Source: Apify MCP server README
The README says the hosted URL uses streamable HTTP, and that the local command is npx @apify/actors-mcp-server with APIFY_TOKEN set to your Apify API token. The README does not print a sample value, so this snippet leaves it empty.
Remote URL
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
}
}
}Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com"Cursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"apify": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.apify.com"
}
}
}Local command
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@apify/actors-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"APIFY_TOKEN": ""
}
}
}
}Claude Code
claude mcp add apify -e APIFY_TOKEN="" -- npx @apify/actors-mcp-serverCursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@apify/actors-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"APIFY_TOKEN": ""
}
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"apify": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@apify/actors-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"APIFY_TOKEN": ""
}
}
}
}Connect it: Bright Data
from vendor docs, not tested by us
Configuration validation checks that these snippets parse and include every environment variable named in the Auth fact. It is not a connection test.
Source: Bright Data MCP README
The hosted URL uses the README placeholder YOUR_API_TOKEN. The local example sets API_TOKEN to <your-api-token-here>.
Remote URL
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"brightdata": {
"url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
}
}
}Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http brightdata "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"Cursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"brightdata": {
"url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"brightdata": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.brightdata.com/mcp?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN"
}
}
}Local command
Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"brightdata": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@brightdata/mcp"
],
"env": {
"API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
}
}
}
}Claude Code
claude mcp add brightdata -e API_TOKEN="<your-api-token-here>" -- npx @brightdata/mcpCursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"brightdata": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@brightdata/mcp"
],
"env": {
"API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
}
}
}
}VS Code
{
"servers": {
"brightdata": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@brightdata/mcp"
],
"env": {
"API_TOKEN": "<your-api-token-here>"
}
}
}
}