head to head · open source
claude-mem vs zcf
claude-mem has 94,286 GitHub stars, 8,321 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zcf has 6,083 stars, 421 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. claude-mem leads on adoption by 1,450% (94,286 vs 6,083 stars). claude-mem is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; zcf is written in TypeScript under MIT. claude-mem has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, zcf 7%. claude-mem was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, claude, claude-code), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| claude-mem | zcf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-08-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.3K | ⑂ 421 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick claude-mem if
- You weight community size — 94K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zcf if
- You want the zcf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and zcf fits your workflow better
About claude-mem
claude mem is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript memory layer for AI coding agents that captures what an agent did during a session, compresses it with AI, and injects the relevant parts back into future sessions, built for developers running Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex, Gemini, Hermes, Copilot, OpenCode and similar tools.
read the full claude-mem overview →
About zcf
zcf is a zero config code flow CLI for Claude Code and Codex that installs the tooling, workflows, API/CCR provider settings, and MCP servers in a single command, and it is aimed at developers and teams who want a working AI coding agent setup without hand editing configuration files.
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Frequently asked questions
Is claude-mem or zcf more popular?
claude-mem has 94,286 GitHub stars and zcf has 6,083. claude-mem has the larger community by that measure.
Are claude-mem and zcf free?
Both are open source. claude-mem is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zcf under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between claude-mem and zcf?
claude-mem is written in TypeScript and zcf in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, claude-mem or zcf?
Choose claude-mem if you want the larger community (94,286 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zcf if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.