AI Plugin IndexReference vs brave
Reference and brave are both search and web MCP servers. brave scores higher (95 vs 83 out of 100). brave has more GitHub stars (1.5k), and brave was updated more recently (5 days ago). The table compares them side by side.
| Reference | brave | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83 / 100 | 95 / 100 |
| What it does | Workspace-local reference CLI/MCP server for semantic IWSDK search using externally hosted corpus/model warmup artifacts | Visit https://brave.com/search/api/ for a free API key. Search the web, local businesses, images,… |
| Publisher | Verified: npm:@iwsdk | Verified: smithery.ai |
| Grades | Maintenance A, Licence A, Quality B | Maintenance A, Licence A, Quality A |
| npm downloads a week | 1,047 | Not on npm |
| Runs | Local | Remote |
| Works with | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf, ChatGPT |
| GitHub stars | 345 | 1,510 |
| Last commit | 1 Oct 2026 | 17 Oct 2026 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Listed since | 20 Oct 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Install Reference | Install brave |
Questions
Is Reference or brave more popular?
brave has more GitHub stars: 1,510.
Can I use Reference and brave together?
Yes. AI assistants can load several MCP servers at once. Install both and the assistant picks the right one for each task.