Agent memory that curates itself.
Zep is a managed memory cloud for enterprise clients. Their context graphs tell you how things relate. Cognee developed a self-evolving agentic memory platform. It structures your data and your agents’ traces, so your agents can reason on one shared memory that keeps improving.
What sets cognee apart.
Memory that curates itself
With Zep you curate the memory; with cognee the memory curates itself. Every time agents retrieve, correct, reuse, or ignore information, those interactions become signals that cognee learns from. You get more accurate output and fewer agent mistakes.
One Postgres, no graph database
Cognee runs the whole memory layer (graph, vectors, sessions, and metadata) on a single Postgres instance. You avoid the operational overhead and cost of a dedicated graph database.
Deploy anywhere
Run cognee locally, on the edge, or as a managed cloud, so you can stay close to the stack you already operate.
Your memory stays yours
Bring existing memory in, and take it back out at any time via the open COGX format or standard graph formats. With Zep, your memory stays locked in.
Zep gives you a context graph.Cognee gives you memory that learns.
A managed memory cloud for enterprise
Zep’s context graphs tell you how things relate. You can ask your agent “have we seen this before?” and it pulls back the closest match. It is built on the Graphiti framework and runs on a dedicated graph database. It ships with access control and retention policies for heavy enterprise use. Their solution is appealing to customers doing business data and document search.
A self-evolving agentic memory you own
Cognee structures your data and your agents’ traces. When agents retrieve, correct, reuse, or forget information, those interactions become signals. Cognee learns which signals matter and which pieces of memory agents actually rely on. Your agents start to reason and ask: “What happens if I take action A over action B?” It enables you to run a fleet of coordinated agents from one shared memory that keeps improving.
Cognee vs. Zep at a glance.
A context graph you curate, built on Graphiti
Self-evolving memory that curates itself
Hybrid search across vector embeddings
Hybrid search with no separate index to build or keep in sync
Dedicated graph database (Neo4j, FalkorDB, or Amazon Neptune) plus its vector index
A single Postgres for graph, vectors, sessions, and metadata
Managed cloud
Local, managed cloud, or on the edge
The Graphiti framework is open source (Apache 2.0); the Zep platform is managed and proprietary
Open source, with memory you can export anytime via open COGX or standard graph formats
Enterprise business-data and document search
From search to multi-agent settings on one shared memory
How we measure memory.
Zep published results on LoCoMo and LongMemEval, optimising for retrieval speed and token size. Cognee evaluates on BEAM, a longer-horizon benchmark where evidence is scattered across many turns, and measures reasoning depth and faithfulness alongside raw accuracy.
Different benchmarks measure different things. Zep optimises for retrieval speed and token size on short-session QA datasets. Cognee is evaluated on BEAM, a long-horizon benchmark with evidence scattered across many turns, and on real-world correctness and faithfulness metrics. Full methodology and reproducible benchmark code are publicly available.