Grafana MCP Server vs Terraform MCP Server

A side-by-side comparison of two DevOps & Cloud servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	Grafana MCP Server Grafana's official server for dashboards, Prometheus/Loki queries, alerts, and incidents. Verified stdio (local) API key Go	Terraform MCP Server HashiCorp's official server for Terraform Registry providers, modules, and IaC workflows. Verified stdio (local) No auth Go
Category	DevOps & Cloud	DevOps & Cloud
Language	Go	Go
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	2.1k	1.4k
Last commit	8 days ago	8 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`docker run --rm -i -e GRAFANA_URL -e GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN grafana/mcp-grafana -t stdio`	`docker run -i --rm hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Grafana MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick Terraform MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key.

Add Grafana MCP Server

Install / run

docker run --rm -i -e GRAFANA_URL -e GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN grafana/mcp-grafana -t stdio

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_URL",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN",
        "grafana/mcp-grafana",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "https://your-grafana-instance.example.com",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-grafana-service-account-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires Docker to be installed and running.

Add Terraform MCP Server

Install / run

docker run -i --rm hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires Docker to be installed and running.

FAQ

Grafana MCP Server or Terraform MCP Server — which is better?

Pick Grafana MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools. Pick Terraform MCP Server if you want zero-setup with no API key.

Can I use both Grafana MCP Server and Terraform MCP Server?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do Grafana MCP Server and Terraform MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View Grafana MCP Server →View Terraform MCP Server →More comparisons →