head to head · open source
cognee vs server
cognee has 33,036 GitHub stars, 3,456 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. server has 8,524 stars, 2,267 forks, 495 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cognee leads on adoption by 288% (33,036 vs 8,524 stars). cognee is written in Python under Apache-2.0; server is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. cognee has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, server 27%. server 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 | server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 server if
- You want the server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and server 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 server
MariaDB Server MariaDB Server is one of the most widely deployed open source relational databases. It is built by a global community of contributors together with the MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB plc, and it powers workloads from small applications to large scale production systems. MariaDB began as a fork of MySQL, led by the original MySQL developers, and it maintains a high degree of MySQL compatibility. It has since grown into a database with its own capabilities, including native vector search, multiple pluggable storage engines, synchronous clustering, and analytical features, while remaining a…
read the full server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cognee or server more popular?
cognee has 33,036 GitHub stars and server has 8,524. cognee has the larger community by that measure.
Are cognee and server free?
Both are open source. cognee is licensed under Apache-2.0 and server under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cognee and server?
cognee is written in Python and server in C++. 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 server?
Choose cognee if you want the larger community (33,036 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose server if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.