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Mem0 alternatives for coding agents (2026)

Published: October 6, 2026

We make Harbor, one of the alternatives below. Everything here about Mem0 and the other tools is from their own docs and pricing pages, read on 6 October 2026.

The short answer depends on why you are leaving. To run the coding plugin yourself, Cognee, whose Claude Code plugin starts a local server by default. For the same automatic capture with changed facts handled for you, Supermemory. For facts that change over time, Zep or Graphiti. For memory you can open and edit as Markdown, Basic Memory. If it is just you in Claude Code, claude-mem. And if what you wanted was for every agent to know what your team decided, with a gate before anything is shared, that is Harbor.

What Mem0 does for coding agents

Mem0's coding plugin installs in Claude Code and Codex with hooks, and in Cursor. It captures your messages, the agent's answers, changed files and test results, and sends them to Mem0 after every five completed exchanges. Mem0 sorts each memory into shared project knowledge or a personal preference, and everyone on a repository reads and writes one pool. If the first prompt has at least 20 characters, the plugin adds up to five relevant memories; after that, the agent searches when it chooses to. There is also a hosted MCP server with eleven tools.

It is quick to start, and nobody has to write anything down. For an app that has to remember its own users, Mem0's SDKs and 31 integrations are the main event, and that is a different job from this note's. Our Harbor vs Mem0 page covers that split.

Why teams look for an alternative

These are the limits Mem0's own docs make visible:

The coding plugin needs the hosted platform. Its docs list a Mem0 Platform API key as required, and the MCP server is hosted by Mem0. The library is open source, but the plugin's docs do not describe running it against your own server.
Nothing is reviewed before it is shared. Memories are extracted automatically into the repository's shared pool, and no review step for memories is documented. Mem0 Copilot's review mode covers configuration changes, not memories.
It learns only from sessions. A decision made in a Slack thread or a pull request review reaches it only if someone repeats it in a session.
Recall happens once. Up to five memories on the first prompt, then only when the agent searches. In Cursor, Mem0's docs say the hook “cannot add context to a prompt”, so recall there is up to the agent.
Changed facts are handled on the platform only. A newer fact marks the older one as outdated on every hosted plan; the open-source version does not do this.
It is priced per request. Free covers 1,000 retrievals a month on one project. Starter is $19 a month, also for one project.
Telemetry. With a key set, the plugin's telemetry is sent under your account, and the docs say it is not anonymous. MEM0_TELEMETRY=false turns it off.

1. Harbor: the team's decisions in every session

Harbor is not a drop-in replacement. Mem0 remembers what sessions did; Harbor serves what your team decided. It learns the rules from Slack, pull request reviews and docs, plus what agent sessions record, and hooks give each Claude Code, Cursor or Codex session the ones that apply to its task at the start. You set the gate: Manual holds everything for a person, Hybrid (the default) adds routine rules and holds the rest, and a rule that contradicts a live one always waits for a person.

Instead of Mem0 because: the rules come from where the team decides, nothing reaches every agent without passing the gate you set, and every rule shows how often it was served and how often an answer cited it (which rules got used).
Watch out for: Harbor is in early access, and we let teams in by hand. It is hosted only and wires three agents.
Price: Free costs nothing for your whole team, on one source. Pro is $24 per person a month billed yearly.

2. Cognee: run it yourself

Open-source graph memory under Apache-2.0. Its Claude Code plugin starts a local Cognee unless you point it at a server, recalls on every prompt, and adds code-graph context when Claude reads a file. Codex has the same kind of plugin, and Cursor connects over MCP.

Instead of Mem0 because: the coding plugin runs on your own machine, and recall happens on every prompt, not only the first.
Watch out for: capture is automatic, and no review step is documented.
Price: free to run yourself. Cognee Cloud is free up to 1M tokens, then $1 per million tokens plus $5 a workspace.

3. Supermemory: automatic capture that handles change

Hosted memory with plugins for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor that capture on their own, recall before each turn, and share one memory per repository. A newer fact replaces the old one in search with its history kept, and memories can be forgotten on a schedule.

Instead of Mem0 because: the Cursor plugin recalls on its own, changed facts are handled in the engine, and facts it inferred wait until someone approves or declines them.
Watch out for: facts that were stated go in without review. Self-hosting is on the Scale and Enterprise plans, and the self-hosted build has no MCP server.
Price: free with $5 of credits a month. Pro is $19 a month with three team seats.

4. Zep and Graphiti: facts that change over time

Every fact has a validity window, and when information changes the old fact is invalidated rather than deleted. Zep's Context plugin installs in Claude Code, Codex CLI and Cursor. Graphiti is the open-source core, with an MCP server you host.

Instead of Mem0 because: the strongest model of time of any tool here, and Zep's memory sits behind your identity provider.
Watch out for: the Zep plugin has no hooks, so nothing reaches the agent until it calls a tool. Memory is per person, with optional shared graphs.
Price: Zep is free for 10,000 credits a month, then $125 a month. Graphiti is free under Apache-2.0.

5. Basic Memory: memory you can read

Markdown files that people and agents both write, over a local or hosted MCP server, with a plugin for Claude Code. Every save in its cloud is a version.

Instead of Mem0 because: the memory is plain files you own and can edit in Obsidian or VS Code, and it is free to run yourself under AGPL-3.0.
Watch out for: nothing is captured for you, and there is no approval step on writes.
Price: free locally. Basic Memory Teams is $15 per seat a month, after a 7-day trial.

6. claude-mem: just you, in Claude Code

It captures every Claude Code session through hooks, compresses it, and brings the relevant part back next time. The engine is free under Apache-2.0 and can keep memory on your machine; its installer also offers a hosted tier, CMEM Pro, at $30 a month. A team version is in development as a pilot. More in our claude-mem note.

Built for other jobs

Letta builds one long-lived agent that owns and versions its own memory. Letta Code is a coding agent of its own, not memory for Claude Code. Teams Pro is $20 per seat a month.
LangMem is an MIT Python library for agents you build on LangGraph. It has no MCP server or coding-agent plugin, and its last release was in October 2025.

Side by side

	Claude Code	Cursor	Codex	Review before sharing	Host it yourself	Free, then
Mem0	Plugin, first prompt	Plugin, no automatic recall	Plugin	Not documented	Library; the plugin needs the platform	1,000 retrievals a month; $19 a month
Harbor	Hooks at session start, MCP	Hooks, MCP	Hooks, MCP	A gate you set	No	Free on one source; Pro $24 a person, yearly
Cognee	Plugin, every prompt	MCP	Plugin	Not documented	Yes, Apache-2.0	1M tokens; $1 per million
Supermemory	Plugin, every turn	Plugin	Plugin	Inferred facts only	Scale and Enterprise	$5 of credits a month; $19 a month
Zep and Graphiti	Plugin, no hooks	Plugin	Plugin, CLI only	Not documented	Graphiti only	10,000 credits a month; $125 a month
Basic Memory	Plugin, MCP	MCP	MCP	Optional suggested edits	Yes, AGPL-3.0	Local is free; $15 a seat a month
claude-mem	Plugin, hooks	Hooks	Hooks	Not documented	Yes, Apache-2.0	Free; $30 a month hosted

How to choose

You need the coding plugin on your own machine: Cognee.
You like Mem0's automatic capture and want changed facts handled, in Cursor too: Supermemory.
Your facts change over time and the memory must sit behind your identity provider: Zep. Self-hosted: Graphiti.
You want memory people can read and edit: Basic Memory.
It is just you, in Claude Code: claude-mem.
You wanted every agent to know what the team decided, through a gate you set, with served and cited per rule: Harbor, in early access.

For a ranked list of memory servers a team can share, see the best MCP memory servers for teams. If a line here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Questions

What is the best alternative to Mem0 for coding agents?

It depends on why you are leaving. To run it yourself, Cognee. For automatic capture that handles changed facts, Supermemory. For facts that change over time, Zep or Graphiti. For memory you can read as Markdown, Basic Memory. For one developer in Claude Code, claude-mem. For your team's decisions in every session through a gate you set, Harbor.

Is there an open-source alternative to Mem0 for Claude Code?

Cognee's Claude Code plugin is Apache-2.0 and starts a local Cognee by default. Graphiti (Apache-2.0) has an MCP server you host. Basic Memory (AGPL-3.0) and claude-mem (Apache-2.0) also run on your own machine. Mem0's library is open source, but its coding plugin needs the hosted platform.

Does Mem0 work with Cursor?

Through a plugin and its hosted MCP server, but Mem0's docs say Cursor's hook cannot add context to a prompt, so memories reach the agent only when it searches.

Can I self-host Mem0's Claude Code plugin?

Its docs list a Mem0 Platform API key as required, and its MCP server is hosted by Mem0. The library and a server are open source and self-hostable, but the plugin's docs do not describe running against them.

Is Harbor a Mem0 alternative?

For a different job. Mem0 remembers what sessions and users said. Harbor serves what your team decided, from Slack, pull request reviews and docs, through a gate you set, and counts per rule how often it was served and cited. A team can build its product's memory on Mem0 and still run Harbor for the agents that write the code.