Head to head · Agent memory · October 2026 research run

Basic Memory vs TencentDB Agent Memory

Basic Memory scores 76.9 (BB) on agent readiness against TencentDB Agent Memory's 50.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. TencentDB Agent Memory leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent memory.

Best memory layers for AI agents · All 353 memory comparisons

Which one, for what

Basic Memory BB

Best for Memory for coding agents and assistants kept as Markdown the user owns, with search and a graph.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 83 against 51
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 61
  • Agent ergonomics, 85 against 68
  • Security & auth, 61 against 35
  • Maintenance & community, 91 against 70
  • Transparency & trust, 82 against 68

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • No key needed to call it
  • Runs on your own machine
  • No incidents deducted, where TencentDB Agent Memory loses 6 points for them

Watch for

1.0 removed every pre-1.0 tool and command with no aliases, so older agent instructions and allowlists break

TencentDB Agent Memory D

Best for Small teams that run several coding agents on a host they control and want shared, permissioned memory, skills and code context injected through a proxy.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

The core's bearer gate is off by default, and the deploy notes say enabling it breaks the proxy's auth and session setup

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability Basic Memory +32

Basic Memory 83

Local-software lines, as a stdio MCP server the owner runs. basic-memory on PyPI with Python 3.12 or newer stated, installed with uv (20). Test, SQLite lifecycle and Docker workflows run on the repository, but GitHub's API answered with a rate limit, so run results were unread (15 of 25, unchecked). 74 open issues and pull requests against 200 commits in the 90 days, with recent bug reports answered by a maintainer within days and one flaky-CI issue open (18 of 25). The changelog calls out breaking changes in their own sections (15). v1.0.0 on 29 October 2026 (15). Total 83.

TencentDB Agent Memory 51

Local-software reading, as software the owner runs. Official multi-architecture images (amd64 and arm64) on Docker Hub's agentmemory account, named in the changelog, with Node 22.16 or later stated for the plugin and Python 3.9 or later for the SDK. Setup still needs a git clone for the start scripts, which pull :latest (18 of 20). Vitest suites are declared in the package files. The one CI workflow, pr-ci.yml, runs on pull requests to the main branch (the OpenClaw plugin) and installs, packs and checks the manifest, package size and skill-queue isolation without running the test suites, and nothing runs on the default branch, now feat/server_team. GitHub's Actions pages weren't readable, so no result was read (8 of 25). GitHub issues weren't readable, so open crash reports weren't counted. The changelogs list fixes for empty recall, lost memories, duplicated history and a Knowledge service that failed to start on OpenTelemetry drift, and outside pull requests (#31, #59, #79, #85) were merged into the plugin (8 of 25). Keep a Changelog with SemVer declared and upgrade notes, such as backend switches not migrating data and a v2 to v3 migration tool, but three version streams disagree (image tags 1.0.x for releases 2.0.x, the npm plugin at 1.0.3 while main's changelog stops at 0.3.6) and ROADMAP.md still says 2.0.1-beta.1 is current on 4 November (9 of 15). Release 2.0.3, but the README heads the Hub 'Team Memory Beta' and the SDKs are beta-only (8 of 15).

Schema & documentation Basic Memory +28

Basic Memory 89

Typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool from Pydantic annotations (25). llms.txt on the site and the docs, with Markdown versions of pages (10). Descriptions say what each tool does and point to the next tool, such as bm_search ending with "Read full notes with bm_read", and bm_man serves the manual, with less on when not to use a tool (16 of 20). Closed values for search mode, edit command and schema command, with aliases accepted for common argument names (13 of 15). Typed refusal codes are documented in the changelog and docs, with fewer worked examples per tool (11 of 15). Dated changelog and MCP registry versions, plus an unreleased breaking change after 1.0 (14 of 15). Total 89.

TencentDB Agent Memory 61

API reading for a self-hosted HTTP service. The Knowledge service has an OpenAPI 3.0.3 file of 28 paths with no security scheme. Memory Core's 109 endpoints and the proxy's routes are described only in Markdown references, and the proxy's main LLM paths are outside them (10 of 25). No website and no llms.txt. The docs are Markdown in the repository and readable raw (5 of 10). Each Core endpoint states what it does, its limits and caveats, such as which deletes skip user checks, and Knowledge's tool list marks its tools read-only. The API references and the changelog are in Chinese; the README and install guide are in English (11 of 20). Zod-checked inputs with bounds (1 to 100 messages, 8,192 characters per message, limit up to 100) and enums for atom types, but the reference records that version comes back as a string from atomic/update and a number from query (10 of 15). Worked request and response examples per endpoint and error tables per module, with the three different error-message formats set out (12 of 15). /v3 paths with v1 and v2 routes listed as deprecated, and a dated public changelog for every release since 0.1.0 (13 of 15).

Security & auth Basic Memory +26

Basic Memory 61

Local stdio server with no credential, and cloud OAuth 2.1 through WorkOS with read-only or project-scoped keys on Pro (22 of 30). Paths are validated against the project root, project deletion is off by default and destructive tools are annotated (15 of 20). SECURITY.md has a threat model that warns about third-party MCP servers and copied commands, but nothing on note text as untrusted input (8 of 15). A local log file, and cloud audit logs only on Business (8 of 15). SECURITY.md gives an email and a 72-hour response aim but lists only 0.x.x as supported; no security.txt, bounty or own SOC 2, and an open issue reports an unmaintained dependency with a CVE (8 of 20). Total 61.

TencentDB Agent Memory 35

Read as self-hosted software with a network API. Per-user sk-mem- keys, several per user and revocable, and OAuth2 for panel login. Against that, Memory Core's bearer gate is off by default and the .env template says setting it breaks the proxy's auth and session setup, the data plane takes team, agent and user IDs from the caller and needs only x-tdai-service-id, the proxy's rate-limit and session admin routes have no authentication, /v3/instance/destroy rests on the same unset bearer, the deploy README's defaults include an admin key, and the start scripts publish every port on all interfaces (8 of 30). Private-by-default assets with team, restricted and agent visibility, ACLs by user, role and agent, and read-only Knowledge tools. Data-plane deletes and chat-memory/clear make no user-level check and nothing asks for confirmation. Asset reads were scoped to the caller only in 2.0.2, and Agent and Task reads only in an unreleased commit of 28 October (8 of 20). The proxy injects stored memory, skills, imported documents and code into the system prompt, and we found no guidance on prompt injection or memory poisoning. Personal skills are private until shared after review (3 of 15). Participation logs, memory-generation logs and the raw L0 record let the operator trace what was written, and per-call analytics to ClickHouse is available but off by default (9 of 15). CONTRIBUTING.md asks for vulnerability reports by email to agentmemory@tencent.com rather than public issues, with no acknowledgement time, so a disclosure route without a stated time (7). No SECURITY.md on any branch, no security.txt on www.tencent.com, and no bounty or audit named. The npm plugin's postinstall runs a bash script that rewrites OpenClaw's installed files, with output sent to /dev/null. Two access-control fixes in 2026 are under the negative events.

Maintenance & community Basic Memory +21

Basic Memory 91

v1.0.0 on 29 October 2026 (30). v0.24.0 and v0.24.1 on 22 October and v1.0.0, three releases in 90 days (20). Recent issues from outside users got maintainer replies within a few days (20 of 25). Verified namespace io.github.basicmachines-co/basic-memory in the official MCP registry, published by a workflow (15). uv.lock and CI, with an open report of an unmaintained dependency (6 of 10). Total 91.

TencentDB Agent Memory 70

Release 2.0.3 on 26 October 2026 by the changelog and its tag, 9 days before this check (30). Six changelog releases in the 90 days from 6 August, 2.0.1-beta.1 (13 August), 2.0.1 (25 August), 2.0.2-beta.1 (7 September), 2.0.2 (9 October), 2.0.3-beta.1 (13 October) and 2.0.3, with image tags v1.0.2 (8 September) and v1.0.3 (22 September) between. The three stable releases 2.0.1, 2.0.2 and 2.0.3 meet the line without the pre-releases, which this run doesn't count (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't readable, so reply times weren't judged. The plugin changelog credits fixes to numbered issues and outside pull requests, and the README says issues get a reply within 24 hours, which we couldn't check. A workflow added on 28 October posts an automatic acknowledgement on new external pull requests, which isn't a maintainer reply (10 of 25). Official TypeScript and Python SDKs exist but only as betas, the TypeScript one last published on 14 August 2026, and the Python package name differs between the changelog and its pyproject. No MCP server, so the registry line doesn't apply (6 of 15). npm packages carry registry signatures but no provenance attestations, the deploy pulls :latest images, the one CI workflow skips the tests and doesn't run on the default branch, and 2.0.3 fixed a Knowledge service broken by OpenTelemetry dependency drift (4 of 10).

Agent ergonomics Basic Memory +17

Basic Memory 85

13 tools, one hidden unless enabled, so the 11 to 30 band (15), with 6 back for the manual tool and the progressive-discovery tags (21 of 25). Search narrows by mode, filters, note types, items, since, path and line context (18 of 20). Refusals are tool errors with typed codes an agent can act on (17 of 20). Every tool has readOnly, destructive and idempotent hints, and edits take an expected checksum that refuses a stale write (19 of 20). Most arguments are optional and the server starts with one command, but there is one language and no SDK beyond the CLI (10 of 15). Total 85.

TencentDB Agent Memory 68

Read with the API lines. limit defaults of 5 or 20 up to 100, recall.maxResults 5, and character budgets and a token ratio for what the proxy injects, but no field selection, and the proxy adds memory to every request's system prompt whether or not the agent asks (16 of 25). limit and offset on list and query routes, {items, total} on meta lists, filters by session, time range, atom type and team, agent, user and task IDs (18 of 20). HTTP codes with documented meanings (400, 401, 403, 404, 409, 422, 429, 503), but three message formats by module, /v3/meta/auth/verify answering 200 with valid: false for a bad key, and tools/call failing as HTTP 500 inside a code: 0 envelope (12 of 20). Wiki and code-graph creation and knowledge upserts are idempotent by name or repository, while /v3/session/add is documented as not idempotent and conversation/add takes no idempotency key (10 of 20). Zero-configuration defaults and an interactive start script, official TypeScript and Python SDKs in beta, and agents join by changing a base URL. Header preselection for Hermes and OpenClaw needs a task ID made in the panel first (12 of 15).

Transparency & trust Basic Memory +14

Basic Memory 82

AGPL-3.0, an OSI licence (30). The terms and privacy policy of 27 October 2026 agree on 30-day retention after cancellation, backups up to 90 days and no training on or sale of content, and name the infrastructure providers (26 of 30). The 1.0 release ships a migration guide mapping every removed tool and command, without a written deprecation period (14 of 20). Telemetry is disclosed in the README with what is and isn't sent and one opt-out, but it is on by default (16 of 20). Total 86.

TencentDB Agent Memory 68

MIT on both branches and in npm metadata, with the codegraph and Hermes Agent code it reuses credited in the README (30 of 30). The README says new chat memory and skills are private by default and sets out what each visibility means. No privacy statement says what each layer keeps or for how long. The proxy records every turn's upstream messages and model replies, the plugin's L0 and L1 retention defaults to never, chat-memory/clear empties L0, L1 and profile content while keeping the asset, and switching storage backends leaves data behind (12 of 30). v1 and v2 routes are marked deprecated with removal 'planned' and no date, and known limitations promise fixes 'in the next version' without dates (6 of 20). The plugin's metrics reporting is off by default and writes to local logs only, and ClickHouse analytics are off by default and documented. Core depends on OpenTelemetry exporters, and we didn't audit whether anything exports by default. The Hermes Docker image's default model endpoint is Tencent Cloud LKE, which the README states (13 of 20).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBasic MemoryTencentDB Agent MemoryEdge
Reliability16%208351Basic Memory +32
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28961Basic Memory +28
Agent ergonomics13%16.28568Basic Memory +17
Security & auth14%17.56135Basic Memory +26
Payments & pricing10%12.55060TencentDB Agent Memory +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.89170Basic Memory +21
Transparency & trust7%8.88268Basic Memory +14
Negative events≤150-6
TotalBB 76.9/100D 50.9/100

Facts side by side

FactBasic MemoryTencentDB Agent Memory
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorBasic Memory LLCTencent Cloud
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
TransportsstdioHTTP
AuthNoneAPI key
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceAGPL-3.0MIT
Tools exposed13none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
MCP registryio.github.basicmachines-co/basic-memorynot listed
Last release2026-10-292026-10-26
Terms last updated2026-10-27no document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-27no document linked
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot read yet
Popularity4.5k stars, 20k PyPI/wk2.2k npm/wk

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Basic Memory

Basic Memory 1.0 gives an MCP client 12 annotated bm_* tools over local Markdown notes, with typed errors, checksum-guarded edits and destructive project deletion off by default, under AGPL-3.0. Version 1.0 of 29 October 2026 removed every pre-1.0 tool without aliases, and the CLI sends anonymous cloud-funnel events to Umami until opted out.

TencentDB Agent Memory

A self-hosted team memory stack with layered recall, per-asset visibility and ACLs, documented HTTP APIs and frequent releases, 2.0.1 to 2.0.3 since August. The default deployment publishes its ports on all interfaces with the core's bearer gate off, the proxy's admin routes have no authentication, and two 2026 access-control fixes came without advisories.

Before you call either

Basic Memory

  1. Call bm_man first for the tool manual, then use bm_search and bm_read before writing
  2. Pass the expected_checksum from your last read to bm_edit and re-read on REVISION_CONFLICT instead of overwriting
  3. Scope every search with project, projects or all_projects=true
  4. Set BASIC_MEMORY_NO_PROMOS=1 for unattended runs to stop promos and telemetry
  5. Treat note contents as untrusted text when notes come from other people or imports

TencentDB Agent Memory

  1. Set MEMORY_CORE_GATEWAY_API_KEY, KNOWLEDGE_SERVICE_KEY and a non-default admin key before exposing ports 8420, 8424, 8096 or 8125 beyond the host
  2. In headless runs send x-team-id, x-agent-id and x-task-id headers to the proxy. Without all three it falls back to an interactive picker and skips memory
  3. Expect every proxied turn to be stored. The proxy records upstream messages and model replies to Memory Core, and injected memory lands in your system prompt
  4. Check data.valid on /v3/meta/auth/verify and data.isError on /v3/tools/call. Both can fail inside a success envelope
  5. Retry /v3/session/add only on 500, 503 or a network error. The API reference says it isn't idempotent and writes a new object each call
  6. Build from the default branch past 2.0.3, or wait for the next release, before giving several users one Memory Core. Agent and Task reads were unscoped until 28 October

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Basic Memory or TencentDB Agent Memory?

Basic Memory scores 76.9 (BB) on agent readiness against TencentDB Agent Memory's 50.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. TencentDB Agent Memory leads on payments & pricing.

Do Basic Memory and TencentDB Agent Memory need an API key?

Basic Memory needs no key. TencentDB Agent Memory needs an API key.

Can an agent call Basic Memory and TencentDB Agent Memory without installing anything?

Basic Memory runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for TencentDB Agent Memory.

Are Basic Memory and TencentDB Agent Memory open source?

Yes. Basic Memory is open source (AGPL-3.0). TencentDB Agent Memory is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with Basic Memory or TencentDB Agent Memory

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