# Mural MCP vs PlantUML

> PlantUML scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against Mural MCP's 41.9 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mural MCP leads on security & auth. Both do diagram create. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml.md (~2,300 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

PlantUML scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against Mural MCP's 41.9 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mural MCP leads on security & auth. Both do diagram create.

- Mural MCP: grade E, 41.9/100, rank #795 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mural-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mural-mcp.json
- PlantUML: grade B, 66.9/100, rank #251 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/plantuml.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/plantuml.json

## Which one, for what

### Mural MCP (E)

Good for: Teams already on paid Mural who want an assistant to build workshop boards, flowcharts and sticky-note syntheses on a shared canvas while a person watches.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 72 against 50

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Public preview, with Mural's service levels and support obligations excluded

### PlantUML (B)

Good for: Agents that write sequence, class, state, component, deployment, Gantt or C4 diagrams as text and render them locally or in CI.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 65 against 30
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 26
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 61

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: The default security profile is LEGACY, which gives diagram text full access to local files and URLs through `!include`. The docs say it will be removed, with no date


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Mural MCP | PlantUML | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 83 | PlantUML +48 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 30 | 65 | PlantUML +35 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 26 | 78 | PlantUML +52 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 50 | Mural MCP +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | PlantUML +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 73 | Mural MCP +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 73 | PlantUML +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **41.9 · E** | **66.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Mural MCP | PlantUML |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | SDK + MCP |
| Vendor | Tactivos, Inc. (d/b/a Mural) | PlantUML project (Arnaud Roques) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp-canvas.mural.co/mcp` | no (local only) |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP |  |
| Auth | OAuth | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted service under Mural's Terms of Service. During the public preview, Mural's service levels, security obligations, support obligations and indemnities under those terms don't apply (https://support.mural.co/s/article/MCP-preview) | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | `co.mural/mural` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-01 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | none | 13k stars, 207 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (1) | none |

## Verdicts

**Mural MCP.** Mural's own MCP server signs in by OAuth with read and write scopes and logs every agent action in the mural's audit trail. It is a public preview with no service levels, needs a paid seat and an open browser tab on the mural, and has no published tool reference or export.

**PlantUML.** One Java command reads diagram text from stdin and writes PNG, SVG, PDF or ASCII with no account, and CI passed on the last eight pushes. The default security profile lets diagram text read any local file and fetch any URL, and the documentation still lists chronology diagrams that release 1.2026.2 switched off.

## Before you call either

### Mural MCP

1. Ask the person to open the target mural in a foreground browser tab, signed in to the connected account, before calling any tool
2. Work on one mural at a time and name it explicitly when switching
3. Request only murals:read when the task only reads a board
4. Deletes go through without a server-side prompt. Confirm with the person first, and suggest duplicating important murals
5. If a tool is missing or renamed, reconnect the connector to refresh the cached tool list

### PlantUML

1. Set `PLANTUML_SECURITY_PROFILE` to `SANDBOX` or `ALLOWLIST` before rendering text from an untrusted source. The default profile lets `!include` read local files and fetch URLs
2. Run `java -jar plantuml.jar --check-syntax` with `-stdrpt` first and read the exit status. Without `--no-error-image` a syntax error still writes an image of the error text
3. Pass `-pipe` with `--svg`, `--txt` or `--utxt` to work without files. `--txt` output suits a text-only model
4. Start the local server as `-picoweb:8080:127.0.0.1`. Without the bind address it listens on every interface
5. Use `npx -y @plantuml/mcp-js` when no Java runtime is present. It renders SVG only, so use the jar for PNG or PDF

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Mural MCP or PlantUML?

PlantUML scores 66.9 (B) on agent readiness against Mural MCP's 41.9 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mural MCP leads on security & auth.

### Can an agent call Mural MCP and PlantUML without installing anything?

Mural MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp-canvas.mural.co/mcp. No hosted endpoint is listed for PlantUML.

### Are Mural MCP and PlantUML open source?

No open-source release is listed for Mural MCP. PlantUML is open source (GPL-3.0-or-later).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mural-mcp-vs-plantuml.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "mural-mcp", "b": "plantuml"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare mural-mcp plantuml`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mural-mcp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/plantuml.json

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