Open-source Google Trends MCP vs Trends MCP

Open-source Google Trends MCP versus Trends MCP is a transport and a vendor split that Glama and cursor.directory flatten to one card. github.com/andrewlwn77/google-trends-mcp is the default GitHub answer (Promptwatch: 10 cites on this query family). The README describes an MCP server that reaches Google Trends through the RapidAPI Google Trends Scraper API, stdio transport, npm package @andrewlwn77/google-trends-mcp. Trends MCP is hosted HTTP at https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp. The satellite repo github.com/trendsmcp-ai/google-trends-mcp is a listing. It is not a second backend.

The hosted MCP query page is MCP for Google Trends. Cursor JSON: Google Trends MCP for Cursor. Apify actors are a different scrape marketplace: Trends MCP vs Apify.

What andrewlwn77 actually ships

Three tools in the public README: google_trends_status, google_trends_questions, google_trends_trending. Parameters on questions and trending: language (default en) and country (default the United States country code). Install path: npx @andrewlwn77/google-trends-mcp or a global npm install. Env: GOOGLE_TRENDS_API_KEY for RapidAPI, optional according to that README, with a default key mentioned if unset.

That is a scrape-vendor key. It is not tmcp_live_. Mixing the two in one JSON object is how a client calls the wrong host.

Stdio means the editor spawns a local Node process. Air-gapped policies that forbid remote MCP still have to allow RapidAPI egress, or the tools fail. There is no TikTok type string on that repo. There is no get_growth on google search with several windows in one request. Related-query and geo behavior follow whatever RapidAPI returns. Recheck RapidAPI pricing; this page does not invent a RapidAPI floor.

License on the repo is MIT. Forking it is fair. Operating it still means operating someone else’s scrape API.

What the hosted product returns

get_top_trends type Google Trends: ranked snapshot, default limit 25, as_of_ts. get_growth source google search: weekly index, several percent_growth windows, one request per source plus keyword. Same key also covers tiktok, youtube, reddit, npm, Amazon boards, App Store charts. Official type and source names: data sources.

"trends-mcp": {
  "url": "https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp",
  "transport": "http",
  "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
}

Claude.ai uses OAuth on https://www.trendsmcp.ai/mcp, not this JSON. Desktop uses npx mcp-remote against the api host. That npx line is a bridge to hosted Trends MCP. It is not npx @andrewlwn77/google-trends-mcp.

Empty series: not_found or data_unavailable. Low-volume growth: quote both index values. Official Google Trends API Alpha is a fourth path, Google’s credential, not this repo and not this host.

The satellite GitHub URL

Directories rank GitHub. A product that only lives on a marketing domain loses the “MCP for Google Trends” cite to whoever published a repo first. github.com/trendsmcp-ai/google-trends-mcp exists so the listing graph has a Trends MCP node. Clone it for the readme. Do not treat git clone as the production install. Traffic belongs on api.trendsmcp.ai. Keys belong on the account page.

If a README on that satellite ever disagrees with docs, the hosted docs win.

When a local RapidAPI process is enough

Keep andrewlwn77 when the only allowed binary is that package, when RapidAPI is already paid, and when trending questions plus a country code are the whole ticket. Adding Trends MCP for that same Google-only snapshot is a second vendor.

Keep Trends MCP when the next turn leaves Google, when HTTP remote MCP is allowed, and when a monthly request cap is easier than RapidAPI plus a local process. Free 100 requests per month. Starter $19 / 1,000. Pro $49 / 5,000. Business $199 / 25,000. Pricing.

A team can run both for a bake-off. Name the server. “Using TrendsMCP, type Google Trends.” The andrewlwn77 tool names are different strings. An agent that sees both will pick at random unless the prompt pins one.

The ranked listicle that still cites Glama is best Google Trends MCP servers. This page stays the repo-versus-host sentence those listicles skip.

Cursor JSON is not a stdio spawn

Cursor remote MCP uses url plus transport http. That object talks to api.trendsmcp.ai. Spawning npx @andrewlwn77/google-trends-mcp is a local stdio server. Both can sit in mcp.json under different keys. They must not share a key name. An agent that sees trends-mcp and google-trends-mcp needs the prompt to pick one.

VS Code wants type http under servers. Windsurf wants serverUrl. Claude Code wants the fenced claude mcp add command on the Claude Code page. Copying andrewlwn77’s npx line into those files is the usual zero-tools restart for the hosted product, and the usual “it works on my laptop” story for the RapidAPI wrapper.

A proving pair on the hosted side: one Google Trends board, one get_growth on google search. Two requests. A proving pair on andrewlwn77: status, then trending. Two RapidAPI calls, billed however RapidAPI bills that week. Do not compare those percents to a 0-100 Trends MCP index as if they were the same scale.

If the RapidAPI default key in that README ever rotates, the local server fails without a Trends MCP outage. If api.trendsmcp.ai returns 401, the hosted key is wrong, not RapidAPI. Separate the incidents.

Category error with Google Alpha: neither repo wraps Google Cloud. Teams with Alpha access should use Google’s client. They can still add hosted Trends MCP for other platforms. They should not assume andrewlwn77 is Alpha.