head to head · open source
mall vs automem
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars, 29,826 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. automem has 813 stars, 105 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. mall leads on adoption by 10,329% (84,789 vs 813 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; automem is written in Python under MIT. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, automem 13%. mall 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
| mall | automem | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 813 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 105 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mall if
- You weight community size — 85K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick automem if
- You want the automem feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and automem fits your workflow better
About mall
mall is a complete e commerce system built on Spring Boot and MyBatis, distributed as a Java project under the Apache 2.0 license. It ships two applications in one repository: a storefront system for shoppers and an administrative back office for operators. The storefront covers the home portal, product recommendation, product search, product display, shopping cart, order flow, member center, customer service, and help center. The back office covers product management, order management, member management, promotion management, operations management, content management, statistics reports, finance management, perm…
About automem
AutoMem is an open source, MIT licensed long term memory service for AI assistants that stores decisions, preferences, notes, and context in a graph plus vector database so connected tools such as Claude, Cursor, Codex, and ChatGPT can recall them across sessions.
read the full automem overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or automem more popular?
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars and automem has 813. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and automem free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and automem under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and automem?
mall is written in Java and automem 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, mall or automem?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,789 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose automem if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.