pdf-mcp

★ 155

mcp-gateway

★ 85

pdf-mcp vs mcp-gateway

Q: Which is better, pdf-mcp or mcp-gateway?

By GitHub stars, pdf-mcp has more community adoption, but the best choice depends on your specific use case.

pdf-mcp: pdf-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI agents to read, search, and extract content from PDF files. It uses PyMuPDF for PDF parsing, SQLite for persistent caching, and supports hybrid search combining BM25 keyword and semantic embeddings, OCR for scanned documents, and structured extraction of tables and images.; mcp-gateway: MCP Gateway sits between AI clients and tools, exposing 4 meta-tools for dynamic discovery. It supports unlimited backends via MCP protocols and REST APIs with YAML capabilities, saving up to 97% token overhead. Features include hot reload, circuit breakers, and a web dashboard.

TL;DR

pdf-mcpVision / Multimodal · ★ 155

Efficiently read and analyze large PDF documents without exceeding context limits

Read pdf-mcp full review →

mcp-gatewayDev Tooling · ★ 85

Connect multiple MCP servers without context window limit

Read mcp-gateway full review →

Side-by-Side Comparison

Field

pdf-mcp

mcp-gateway

Features

pdf-mcp

01Hybrid search (BM25 keyword + semantic embeddings) with Reciprocal Rank Fusion

02Paginated reading to avoid context overflow

03OCR support for scanned and image-based PDFs via Tesseract

04Structured extraction of tables, images, and table of contents

05Persistent SQLite cache with automatic invalidation

mcp-gateway

01Unlimited tools with minimal tokens (97% savings)

02Any REST API to MCP tool via YAML or OpenAPI import

03Hot reload without losing AI session

04Production resilience (circuit breakers, retry, rate limiting)

05Web dashboard for live status and cost tracking

Use Cases

pdf-mcp

↳Efficiently read and analyze large PDF documents without exceeding context limits

↳Search for specific content or concepts within PDFs using natural language

↳Extract structured data such as tables and images from PDFs

mcp-gateway

↳Connect multiple MCP servers without context window limit

↳Turn any REST API into an MCP tool without coding

↳Change MCP configuration without restarting AI session

FAQ

What is the difference between pdf-mcp and mcp-gateway?

Both pdf-mcp and mcp-gateway are in the Vision / Multimodal category. pdf-mcp has 155 stars, while mcp-gateway has 85 stars.

Which is better, pdf-mcp or mcp-gateway?

The best choice depends on your use case. Choose pdf-mcp if Efficiently read and analyze large PDF documents without exceeding context limits, and mcp-gateway if Connect multiple MCP servers without context window limit.

Is pdf-mcp free or open source?

Yes, pdf-mcp is open source on GitHub (MIT).

Is mcp-gateway free or open source?

Yes, mcp-gateway is open source on GitHub (MIT).

Cloud Infrastructure

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Alternatives to pdf-mcp →Alternatives to mcp-gateway →pdf-mcp details →mcp-gateway details →

TL;DR

Side-by-Side Comparison

Features

Use Cases

FAQ

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