Serena vs Semble
Both are code understanding MCP servers, and we ran both through the same test (find definition) in each app. Serena passed 4 of 4 apps we tested it in; Semble passed 4 of 4.
Test results side by side
| Serena | Semble | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Passed 2026-10-21 | Passed 2026-10-22 |
| Cursor | Passed 2026-10-21 | Passed 2026-10-22 |
| Claude Desktop | Passed 2026-10-21 | Passed 2026-10-22 |
| ChatGPT (Codex) | Passed 2026-10-21 | Passed 2026-10-22 |
| Tools exposed (protocol check) | 3 tools | 2 tools |
| GitHub stars | 30,268 | 6,253 |
| License | NOASSERTION | MIT |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-16 |
Results from our own harness runs, dated per cell. Stars and last push from GitHub at our last data refresh. We don’t pick a winner here: which one fits depends on your app and setup.
What each does
Serena: Semantic code tools (find symbol, references, edit by symbol) backed by language servers.
Semble: Fast code search for agents that returns the relevant code instead of grep-and-read loops, aiming to use far fewer tokens. Includes an MCP server.
