head to head · open source
serviette vs cognee
serviette has 58,774 GitHub stars, 1,515 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. cognee has 32,706 stars, 3,410 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. serviette leads on adoption by 80% (58,774 vs 32,706 stars). serviette is written in Python under MIT; cognee is written in Python under Apache-2.0. serviette has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, cognee 10%. 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
| serviette | cognee | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 59K | ★ 33K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick serviette if
- You weight community size — 59K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cognee if
- You want the cognee 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 cognee fits your workflow better
About serviette
serviette Looking for llm app templates? All templates, cookbooks and examples are still available in full in the Pathway repository under examples/llm app . A no code, always up to date RAG server for any vector database — built on the Pathway Live Data Framework. Point serviette at a folder of documents, pick a vector database and an embedder in one YAML file, and run two commands: you get a chat and a REST API that answer from those documents and cite their sources. From then on, any change to the documents — an edit, a new file, a deletion — is reflected in the answers within seconds. serviette runs on…
read the full serviette overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is serviette or cognee more popular?
serviette has 58,774 GitHub stars and cognee has 32,706. serviette has the larger community by that measure.
Are serviette and cognee free?
Both are open source. serviette is licensed under MIT and cognee under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between serviette and cognee?
serviette is written in Python and cognee 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, serviette or cognee?
Choose serviette if you want the larger community (58,774 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cognee if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.