Best web search & scraping MCP server for Claude Desktop, tested

Dated results

• Open-WebSearch passed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-21 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta, Electron 44.7.0), open-websearch 2.2.0, connected in 2.4s). Full result
• Fetch (reference) passed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-14 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta), package version not recorded, connected in 1.4s). Full result
• DuckDuckGo search passed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-14 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta), package version not recorded, connected in 1.9s). Full result
• Reddit MCP Buddy passed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-19 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta, Electron 44.7.0), reddit-mcp-buddy 1.1.14, connected in 2.7s). Full result
• MarkItDown MCP (Microsoft) failed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-14 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta), package version not recorded, connected in 2.7s). Full result

Why Open-WebSearch is the candidate

Open-WebSearch passed every step in Claude Desktop. It is the group’s site-wide candidate (judged 2026-10-21): The only server that passed both standard tasks (a live web search and reading a page) in both Claude Code and Cursor, with no API key. Runner-up Fetch passed page reading in both but has no search. DuckDuckGo passed in Cursor but in Claude Code its page reader dropped the page heading; MarkItDown dropped it in both clients. Keyed servers (Brave, Exa, Firecrawl) aren't tested. On Oct 14 Open-WebSearch also passed both tasks in Claude Desktop and in ChatGPT (Codex) (Codex needed a 60 s server start timeout on a cold npx start). MarkItDown failed again in both. Confirmed Oct 21, 2026: a second run passed both tasks again in all 4 clients (open-websearch 2.2.0).

Provisional: based on one dated run per app (no repeat runs yet), so treat it as a candidate, not a final pick. How we test.

What failed or is partial in Claude Desktop

• MarkItDown MCP (Microsoft): failed on 2026-10-14. Recorded reason: no tool result containing ['Example Domain']

Install in Claude Desktop

The exact snippet we tested is on the Open-WebSearch page (pick the Claude Desktop tab). Not connecting? Claude Desktop MCP troubleshooting.

Not tested in Claude Desktop yet

Apify MCP, Bright Data MCP, Pomerado, SerpApi MCP, Firecrawl MCP, Exa MCP, Tavily MCP, Brave Search MCP, Jina AI MCP, Kagi Search MCP, Xquik, Scrapling, Jevcrawl, Crawl4AI, Xiaohongshu (RedNote) MCP, wigolo, Google Search Console MCP, Open SEO MCP + Skills, designlang (design-extract), FlexQueries, AgentWeb, Irmu — Web Data MCP, Qovia, Awwwards MCP. Listed from their source; no result in Claude Desktop yet.

Questions

What is the best web search & scraping MCP server for Claude Desktop?

In ToolPassed's hands-on tests in Claude Desktop, Open-WebSearch is our provisional candidate for web search & scraping: it passed install, connect, tools and an agent task on 2026-10-21. We ran 5 web search & scraping MCP servers in Claude Desktop; 4 passed every step; not a pass: MarkItDown MCP (Microsoft) (failed).

Does Open-WebSearch work with Claude Desktop?

Open-WebSearch passed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-21 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta, Electron 44.7.0), open-websearch 2.2.0, connected in 2.4s).

Does MarkItDown MCP (Microsoft) work with Claude Desktop?

No, not in our test: MarkItDown MCP (Microsoft) failed in Claude Desktop on 2026-10-14 (Claude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta), package version not recorded, connected in 2.7s). Recorded reason: no tool result containing ['Example Domain']