Memory tools compared: Aletheia, Mem0, Zep and Graphiti, Supermemory, Basic Memory

Aletheia (aletheia-mem) is a free, local memory and rules hub for AI coding tools. This page compares it with four other memory projects: Mem0, Zep with its open-source Graphiti framework, Supermemory and Basic Memory. It says what each project's own pages state, with a URL and a date, and it says when another tool is the better pick.

Every fact about another project was read from the URL beside it on 2026-10-29. Where a page did not say, the cell reads UNVERIFIED. A README that does not mention a feature is not proof that the feature is missing.

The comparison at a glance

The Aletheia column comes from the repository. See Rules and MCP tools. The other columns are explained in the sections below.

Mem0

• Licence: Apache-2.0. Source: https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0 and gh api repos/mem0ai/mem0, 2026-10-29.
• Local use: the open-source version runs as a library or a Docker stack on your own servers. Source: https://docs.mem0.ai/introduction, 2026-10-29.
• A model provider is needed. The README names OpenAI's gpt-5-mini and text-embedding-3-small as defaults. The open-source REST server needs an OpenAI key and a JWT_SECRET, and you create a local admin on your own server, not a Mem0 account. Sources: https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0 and https://docs.mem0.ai/open-source/features/rest-api, 2026-10-29.
• Hosted option: a managed platform at app.mem0.ai with API keys. The README gives no prices. Source: https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0, 2026-10-29.
• MCP: the documented server is hosted by Mem0 and stores memories in your Mem0 account. The page says nothing runs on your machine and describes no local MCP server. Source: https://docs.mem0.ai/platform/mem0-mcp, 2026-10-29.
• REST and CLI: the open-source REST server is a FastAPI service, and the docs index lists a separate platform API reference. The README describes a CLI that adds and searches memories. Sources: https://docs.mem0.ai/open-source/features/rest-api, https://docs.mem0.ai/llms.txt and https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0, 2026-10-29.

Zep and Graphiti

• Graphiti is an open-source framework for temporal knowledge graphs. Licence: Apache-2.0. Source: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti and gh api repos/getzep/graphiti, 2026-10-29.
• Zep is a commercial, managed context layer built on Graphiti, and it runs its own graph database service. Sources: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti and https://help.getzep.com, 2026-10-29.
• Graphiti is self-hosted. It needs a graph database (Neo4j, FalkorDB or Amazon Neptune) and an LLM provider, and OpenAI-compatible local servers such as Ollama can be used. The README warns that smaller models may fail ingestion. Sources: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti and https://help.getzep.com/graphiti/getting-started/overview, 2026-10-29.
• Self-hosting the Zep server itself: UNVERIFIED. The help site does not say. The Graphiti README mentions a deployment in your own cloud. The getzep/zep repository describes itself as examples and integrations, so this page does not treat Zep as open source.
• Temporal model: both pages describe bi-temporal tracking and fact invalidation. These are the project's own claims.
• MCP and REST: the Graphiti README says the mcp_server and server folders are reference implementations, not production deployments, with no authentication. The help page for Graphiti did not describe an MCP server, so the two sources differ. Sources: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti and https://help.getzep.com/graphiti/getting-started/overview, 2026-10-29.

Supermemory

• Licence: MIT. Source: https://github.com/supermemoryai/supermemory and gh api repos/supermemoryai/supermemory, 2026-10-29.
• Local use: "Supermemory local" is a single server binary started with npx or an install script. It listens on localhost:6767 and uses a local embeddings model by default. The README says URL ingestion relies on a hosted reader service, so fully offline use has limits. Source: https://github.com/supermemoryai/supermemory, 2026-10-29.
• Hosted option: a hosted platform with a docs site and dashboard. The README states no prices. UNVERIFIED for pricing.
• MCP: an open-source server, available at a hosted URL, with the tools memory, recall and context. Source: the same README, 2026-10-29.
• REST: the README lists npm and Python SDKs. A REST endpoint reference is UNVERIFIED.
• The documentation site did not load. Fetches of https://supermemory.ai/docs, https://supermemory.ai/docs/intro and https://docs.supermemory.ai failed on 2026-10-29, so every Supermemory fact here comes from the README.

Basic Memory

• Licence: AGPL-3.0, stated for both the local and cloud versions. Source: https://github.com/basicmachines-co/basic-memory and gh api repos/basicmachines-co/basic-memory, 2026-10-29.
• Local use: notes are Markdown files on your disk with a local SQLite index. Source: https://github.com/basicmachines-co/basic-memory, 2026-10-29.
• Hosted option: the README states a cloud version at $15 a month with a 7-day free trial. Source: the same README, 2026-10-29.
• MCP and CLI: both are described in the README. Connected hosts named there include Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and VS Code.
• REST: the README mentions an API server only in passing and has no endpoint reference. UNVERIFIED.
• Rules files: the README does not describe writing rules into host instruction files. Aletheia's own README table of 2026-10-26 recorded "partial (AGENTS.md)" for Basic Memory, and the 2026-10-29 README does not confirm it. UNVERIFIED.
• Import: the README lists Claude conversations, ChatGPT exports and memory JSON files.

Benchmark claims

Each vendor publishes its own numbers. Aletheia's numbers are retrieval only (Recall@5) and are measured by us. See Benchmarks.

• Mem0 reports 92.5 on LoCoMo, 94.4 on LongMemEval and 64.1 on BEAM at 1M tokens, vendor-claimed. It says the scores reflect the managed platform, and that open-source users should expect "directionally similar gains but not identical numbers." Source: https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0, 2026-10-29.
• Supermemory claims first place on LongMemEval, LoCoMo and ConvoMem, vendor-claimed. It also presents an open-source framework, MemoryBench. Source: https://github.com/supermemoryai/supermemory, 2026-10-29.
• The Graphiti README gives latency figures with no benchmark data or method, vendor-claimed. Source: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti, 2026-10-29.

None of these numbers can be set beside Aletheia's Recall@5. The pages above do not give the metric, the model or the settings in a way that matches ours. Do not read a gap in either direction into them.

Which to pick

• You want a managed memory service for a product you build. Use a hosted option: Mem0's platform, Zep or Supermemory's hosted platform. Aletheia is not a hosted service and has no managed cloud.
• You need a knowledge graph over many sources. Graphiti and Zep are built for that. Aletheia keeps entity rows and has a graph retrieval channel that is off by default and was measured only on a synthetic test (CHANGELOG 0.1.4).
• You want a team service run by someone else. The projects above offer hosted options. Aletheia's team mode and sync are self-hosted, and they have not been tested across two real machines. See Team mode.
• You keep your notes as Markdown files you read and edit yourself. Basic Memory stores them that way. Aletheia stores memories in SQLite and exports them as JSONL or Markdown.
• You use several coding hosts and want one local store and one set of rules. This is the case Aletheia was built for. Check Tools overview for what has been verified on a real install.
• You already use claude-mem and it works for you. Stay with it. See Aletheia and claude-mem.

Next steps

• Aletheia and claude-mem - the closest comparison, with measured numbers.
• Claude Code memory options - how Aletheia fits next to CLAUDE.md and auto memory.
• Status and limits - what is verified and what is not.