head to head · open source
Mem0 vs LightRAG
Mem0 has 65,539 GitHub stars, 7,687 forks, 742 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LightRAG has 39,738 stars, 5,589 forks, 222 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mem0 leads on adoption by 65% (65,539 vs 39,738 stars). Mem0 is written in Python under Apache-2.0; LightRAG is written in Python under MIT. Mem0 has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, LightRAG 14%. LightRAG was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (genai, llm), 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 | LightRAG | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 40K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.7K | ⑂ 5.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mem0 if
- You weight community size — 66K 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 LightRAG if
- You want the LightRAG feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and LightRAG fits your workflow better
About Mem0
Mem0 is an open source memory layer for AI agents and applications, designed to store, retrieve, and manage persistent context across interactions. It lives in the Python based AI development ecosystem and provides infrastructure that enables agents and apps to remember user preferences, conversation history, and state over time—moving beyond ephemeral chat sessions toward truly adaptive systems.
About LightRAG
LightRAG is a Python retrieval augmented generation framework, released under the MIT licence and presented in an EMNLP 2025 paper, that builds a knowledge graph over documents so that queries can be answered from both graph structure and vector similarity.
read the full LightRAG overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mem0 or LightRAG more popular?
Mem0 has 65,539 GitHub stars and LightRAG has 39,738. Mem0 has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mem0 and LightRAG free?
Both are open source. Mem0 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and LightRAG under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mem0 and LightRAG?
Mem0 is written in Python and LightRAG 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 LightRAG?
Choose Mem0 if you want the larger community (65,539 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose LightRAG if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.