head to head · open source
cognee vs qdrant-client
cognee has 33,036 GitHub stars, 3,456 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. qdrant-client has 1,377 stars, 382 forks, 191 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cognee leads on adoption by 2,299% (33,036 vs 1,377 stars). cognee is written in Python under Apache-2.0; qdrant-client is written in Python under Apache-2.0. cognee has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, qdrant-client 28%. cognee was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| cognee | qdrant-client | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 382 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cognee if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick qdrant-client if
- You want the qdrant-client feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and qdrant-client fits your workflow better
About cognee
Cognee The Open Source AI Memory Platform for Agents Demo . Docs . Learn More · Join Discord · Join r/AIMemory . Community Plugins & Add ons Cognee is the open source AI memory platform that gives AI agents persistent long term memory across sessions. Ingest data in any format, build a self hosted knowledge graph, and let every agent recall, connect, and act with full context 🌐 This README is also available in: Deutsch Español Français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 📄 Read the research paper: Optimizing the Interface Between Knowledge Graphs and LLMs for Complex Reasoning — Markovic et al., 2025 When to use…
read the full cognee overview →
About qdrant-client
Python Client library for the Qdrant vector search engine. Python Qdrant Client Client library and SDK for the Qdrant vector search engine. Library contains type definitions for all Qdrant API and allows to make both Sync and Async requests. Client allows calls for all Qdrant API methods directly. It also provides some additional helper methods for frequently required operations, e.g. initial collection uploading. See QuickStart for more details! Installation Features Type hints for all API methods Local mode use same API without running server REST and gRPC support Minimal dependencies Extensive Test Coverage…
read the full qdrant-client overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cognee or qdrant-client more popular?
cognee has 33,036 GitHub stars and qdrant-client has 1,377. cognee has the larger community by that measure.
Are cognee and qdrant-client free?
Both are open source. cognee is licensed under Apache-2.0 and qdrant-client under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cognee and qdrant-client?
cognee is written in Python and qdrant-client in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cognee or qdrant-client?
Choose cognee if you want the larger community (33,036 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose qdrant-client if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.