head to head · open source
Mem0 vs cognee
Mem0 has 68,288 GitHub stars, 8,104 forks, 742 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. cognee has 33,012 stars, 3,448 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mem0 leads on adoption by 107% (68,288 vs 33,012 stars). Mem0 is written in Python under Apache-2.0; cognee is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Mem0 has attracted 12% 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. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, ai-agents), 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
| Mem0 | cognee | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 33K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.1K | ⑂ 3.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mem0 if
- You weight community size — 68K 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 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 Mem0
Learn more · Join Discord · Demo 📄 Benchmarking Mem0's token efficient memory algorithm → New Memory Algorithm (April 2026) All benchmarks run on the same production representative model stack. Single pass retrieval (one call, no agentic loops) at a top 200 retrieval budget. Scores reflect Mem0's managed platform, which includes proprietary optimizations not available in the open source SDK; open source users should expect directionally similar gains but not identical numbers. What changed: Single pass ADD only extraction one LLM call, no UPDATE/DELETE. Memories accumulate; nothing is overwritten. Agent…
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 Mem0 or cognee more popular?
Mem0 has 68,288 GitHub stars and cognee has 33,012. Mem0 has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mem0 and cognee free?
Both are open source. Mem0 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cognee under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mem0 and cognee?
Mem0 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, Mem0 or cognee?
Choose Mem0 if you want the larger community (68,288 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cognee if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.