Our grade: 4 checks
Based on public data, not a full audit. See how we grade. Something changed? Request a re-grade.
Community rating
- 5 1
- 4 5
- 3 3
- 2 1
- 1 0
Trust in production
- Trust it - 40%
- With caveats - 50%
- Wouldn't - 10%
80% would recommend this server
How reviewers scored it
- Setup & docs 3.6
- Auth experience 3.8
- Reliability 3.6
- Maintainer responsiveness 3.9
Why it got a C
Brave's own server, replacing the archived reference server. It runs locally over stdio by default and is active. It only runs searches, with no tool that fetches a URL the model picks. Its latest release, 2.1.4, ships an MCP SDK with two open memory-exhaustion flaws (CVE-2026-111768, GHSA-f897-62hf-6gxq) that matter only in its optional HTTP mode, so stay on stdio until a fixed release ships. That HTTP mode binds to localhost and checks the Origin header, but has no login, so never bind it to 0.0.0.0. Biggest deduction: the only auth is one unscoped Brave API key, and there is no hosted, OAuth-protected option.
How to connect
// .vscode/mcp.json (or User Settings JSON)
{
"inputs": [
{
"password": true,
"id": "brave-api-key",
"type": "promptString",
"description": "Brave Search API Key",
}
],
"servers": {
"brave-search-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@brave/brave-search-mcp-server", "--transport", "stdio"],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "${input:brave-api-key}"
}
}
}
}// claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search": {
"command": "docker",
"args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BRAVE_API_KEY", "docker.io/mcp/brave-search"],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}Is Brave Search MCP Server safe?
Is Brave Search MCP Server safe to use?
Brave Search MCP Server grades C (usable with care). Login is optional, so check that it is turned on in your setup. It has 2 open CVES. Check the advisories before you install.
Does Brave Search MCP Server have known vulnerabilities?
Yes, 2 open CVES in our data. The listing above explains what they affect and what to run instead.
Does Brave Search MCP Server support authentication?
Optionally. It can run with a login, but it does not require one, so turn it on.
Alternatives in Search & Retrieval
- A Exa MCPOfficial hosted Exa server for web search, page fetching, and multi-step research.
- A Perplexity MCP ServerOfficial Perplexity server for web search, quick answers, reasoning, and deep research through the Perplexity API.
- A Tavily MCPOfficial Tavily server for web search, page extraction, site mapping, crawling, and research.
- B Firecrawl MCP ServerOfficial Firecrawl server to search the web, scrape and crawl sites, parse documents, and interact with pages in a cloud browser.
- B LawDB MCP ServerHosted server to search German and EU legislation and German, European and international case law, and fetch full texts and single provisions with stable citations.
Embed this badge
[](https://trustedmcp.io/servers/brave-search-mcp)<a href="https://trustedmcp.io/servers/brave-search-mcp"><img src="https://trustedmcp.io/badge/brave-search-mcp.svg" alt="TrustedMCP grade C" height="80"></a>Community reviews
Saves me a context switch every hour
Hooked Brave Search MCP Server into Claude Code and it worked on the first try. You can tell it is actively maintained, the rough edges keep getting fixed. I run it with auth enabled. Without it I would not let it near anything shared. Check the advisories on the listing before installing an older version from a tutorial. Easy recommendation.
Used for Technical research while coding
- Setup & docs 4/5
- Auth experience 5/5
- Reliability 4/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 3/5
Good, but read the permissions first
Mostly reliable, with the odd timeout. Gave it its own API key so I can revoke it without breaking anything else. Out of the box it runs without sign-in, so remember to enable auth before exposing it anywhere. The past CVEs put me off at first. The fixed releases have been fine, just keep it updated.
Used for Fact-checking drafts
- Setup & docs 3/5
- Auth experience 2/5
- Reliability 3/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 5/5
Set it up once, forgot about it
Been running this for about a month now. Filed an issue and got a reply within two days. Recommended, with sensible guardrails.
Used for Technical research while coding
- Setup & docs 4/5
- Auth experience 4/5
- Reliability 4/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 4/5
Better than the DIY script it replaced
Clear tool names, sensible outputs, very few surprises. Check the advisories on the listing before installing an older version from a tutorial. Fine in production if you sandbox it.
Used for Collecting references for reports
- Setup & docs 3/5
- Auth experience 4/5
- Reliability 4/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 4/5
Solid and well behaved
Tried it on a side project first, then rolled it out at work. Make sure you are on a patched version, there have been advisories against it. I run it with auth enabled. Without it I would not let it near anything shared. Nice to use something maintained by Brave rather than a random fork. It is in our production agent and I sleep fine.
Used for Research agent for market questions
- Setup & docs 3/5
- Auth experience 4/5
- Reliability 4/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 3/5
Capable but needs guardrails
Works well enough for what I need. Nice that it supports both stdio and HTTP, I use stdio locally and HTTP for the shared agent. Auth is optional, which is convenient locally. I turned it on before sharing it with the team.
Used for Finding recent sources for articles
- Setup & docs 4/5
- Auth experience 4/5
- Reliability 3/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 4/5
Too many sharp edges
Ran into problems pretty quickly. The API key sits in the config file, so I made a dedicated key with minimal permissions. Not something I would put in production yet.
Used for Competitive research
- Setup & docs 2/5
- Auth experience 3/5
- Reliability 2/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 3/5
No complaints after a month
Installed it on a Friday, it was part of my workflow by Monday. Nice that it supports both stdio and HTTP, I use stdio locally and HTTP for the shared agent. The past CVEs put me off at first. The fixed releases have been fine, just keep it updated. Would recommend without hesitation.
Used for Research agent for market questions
- Setup & docs 5/5
- Auth experience 5/5
- Reliability 5/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 5/5
Works, just lock it down
Useful tool, though I would not hand it to a junior unsupervised. Make sure you are on a patched version, there have been advisories against it. I run it with auth enabled. Without it I would not let it near anything shared.
Used for Grounding answers with live results
- Setup & docs 4/5
- Auth experience 3/5
- Reliability 3/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 4/5
Exactly what I needed from Brave Search
Started with it as an experiment, now it is a fixture. Out of the box it runs without sign-in, so remember to enable auth before exposing it anywhere. Gave it its own API key so I can revoke it without breaking anything else. Nice that it supports both stdio and HTTP, I use stdio locally and HTTP for the shared agent.
Used for Collecting references for reports
- Setup & docs 4/5
- Auth experience 4/5
- Reliability 4/5
- Maintainer responsiveness 4/5
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