Head to head · Agent memory · October 2026 research run

claude-mem vs EverOS

EverOS scores 69.4 (B) on agent readiness against claude-mem's 54.6 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent memory.

Best memory layers for AI agents · All 353 memory comparisons

Which one, for what

claude-mem C

Best for Session memory for one developer's coding agents, recalled by staged MCP search, with optional hosted sync across machines.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

Setup uploaded the last 30 days of prompts to cmem.ai without asking from 15.2.0 until 15.8.3 (25 October to 2 November 2026)

EverOS B

Best for Self-hosted memory for agents and apps that want Markdown as the source of truth and separate user and agent tracks.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 84
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
  • Transparency & trust, 71 against 46

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • No incidents deducted, where claude-mem loses 8 points for them

Watch for

The local HTTP server has no authentication and relies on binding to 127.0.0.1

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.

Transparency & trust EverOS +25

claude-mem 46

Apache-2.0 engine with the hosted observer, sync and team functions reserved as closed, per docs/ip-boundary.md (25 of 30). SECURITY.md lists every route by which data leaves the machine, but the cmem.ai privacy page, re-read on 4 November, still says "Nothing leaves your device unless you explicitly turn on cloud sync" and that sensitive details are filtered before storage, while secret redaction defaults to off, doesn't cover the hosted observer, and names no retention periods, subprocessors or legal entity. Locally, raw tool uses are kept forever by default (CLAUDE_MEM_TOOL_USES_RETENTION_DAYS 0) and daily logs 30 days since 15.7.0 (12 of 30). Release notes date breaking changes with migration steps, such as 15.0.0 and the removal of Gemini CLI support in 13.10.0, but no written deprecation policy (8 of 20). Telemetry is on by default, documented field by field (including PostHog's city-level location from the sender's IP) with telemetry disable, DO_NOT_TRACK and a separate error-reporting switch, and the installer asks once; the README doesn't mention it (16 of 20).

EverOS 71

Apache-2.0 with a NOTICE file (30). Local data stays in the owner's Markdown and indexes. For the cloud, the privacy policy gives no retention periods, the terms and privacy policy word the training exceptions differently, and the privacy contact link points to a miromind.ai address (12 of 30). The README marks /api/v1 as a legacy alias that may be removed in a future major release, and a 1.0 migration guide exists, with no notice period (14 of 20). No outbound telemetry was found in the source, and the docs don't address it (10 of 20). Total 66.

Payments & pricing EverOS +20

claude-mem 20

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Scored on the hosted option, as the brief says for open-source software with a paid service. CMEM Pro $30, Heavy $70 and CMEM Max $100 a month are public, but the included usage is shown only at checkout (10 of 20). The engine is free with no card, but the pricing page says the CMEM Pro trial needs a credit or debit card while the README says sign-in needs none (10 of 20). The hosted service needs a browser sign-in by magic link (0).

EverOS 40

Self-hosted rule, with the price lines read for EverOS Cloud. No x402, MPP or L402 (0 of 40). No cloud price or plan found on evermind.ai, its FAQ, terms or docs (0). The open-source runtime is free with no card (20). An agent can install it from PyPI and run it with no account (20). Total 40.

Schema & documentation EverOS +5

claude-mem 84

Every one of the 26 MCP tools declares a JSON Schema input (25). llms.txt at docs.claude-mem.ai with Markdown copies of each page (10). Descriptions give purpose and order of use (search, then timeline, then get_observations) and say when not to call a tool (get_tool_uses "rarely needed", dumb_search "fast, but shallow"), but the README says recall uses 4 tools and lists 3 while the server advertises 19 (15 of 20). Required fields are marked and some limits have minimum and maximum, but type, orderBy and obs_type are free strings described in prose, limit is a number rather than an integer on most tools, and metadata and fields are open objects (8 of 15). README examples and a worker API reference with 400 and 404 error bodies (11 of 15). Keep a Changelog file and release notes for each version (15).

EverOS 89

OpenAPI document in the repository with 40 operations, every one with a description (25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt on docs.evermind.ai (10). Operation descriptions state purpose; when-not-to-use guidance appears in the docs, such as flush after add, rather than per operation (15 of 20). Typed request models with filter operators eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte and in, and 422 on malformed ids (12 of 15). curl examples for add, flush and search, and typed error codes such as SESSION_BUSY and EXTERNAL_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE (12 of 15). /api/v2 with /api/v1 kept as a legacy alias, a changelog and release notes (15). Total 89.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runclaude-memEverOSEdge
Reliability16%207579EverOS +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28489EverOS +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.27478EverOS +4
Security & auth14%17.55047claude-mem +3
Payments & pricing10%12.52040EverOS +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87680EverOS +4
Transparency & trust7%8.84671EverOS +25
Negative events≤15-80
TotalC 54.6/100B 69.4/100

Facts side by side

Factclaude-memEverOS
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorAlex NewmanEvermind AI, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transportsstdio, HTTPHTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0 for the engine, CLI, worker, MCP tools, adapters and docs. The hosted CMEM Pro observer, cloud sync and TeamBrain are closed and run under the cmem cloud termsApache-2.0
Tools exposed197
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-11-022026-10-22
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2026-01-20
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-01-20
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readyes
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readyes
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readyes
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot found in the text
Popularity106k stars, 30k npm/wk14k stars, 4k PyPI/wk

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

claude-mem

Typed MCP tools with a staged search, loopback-only local services and releases most days, with tests in CI. The 15.8.3 notes say setup uploaded 30 days of prompt text to cmem.ai without asking from 25 October to 2 November, and the privacy page still says nothing leaves the device without cloud sync.

EverOS

EverOS keeps agent and user memory as Markdown with SQLite and LanceDB indexes, behind a described OpenAPI with typed, retryable errors and an MCP server, under Apache-2.0 at version 1.5.1. The local server has no authentication, EverOS Cloud prices are not published, and the cloud terms forbid automated data extraction.

Before you call either

claude-mem

  1. Install 15.8.3 or later with npx claude-mem install --provider claude (or another provider) to skip the cmem.ai sign-in; earlier setups uploaded recent prompts without asking.
  2. Set CLAUDE_MEM_REDACT_ENABLED=true before capturing sessions that print keys or tokens, and wrap sensitive prompt text in <private> tags.
  3. Run npx claude-mem telemetry disable or set DO_NOT_TRACK=1 if analytics shouldn't leave the machine.
  4. Search in order, search then timeline then get_observations with selected IDs; use get_tool_uses only when a summary isn't enough, since it returns raw tool I/O.
  5. Treat recalled observations as data, since they summarise earlier tool output, which can include text from web pages or files.

EverOS

  1. Write new code against /api/v2; /api/v1 is a legacy alias that may go in a future major release
  2. Call /api/v2/memory/flush at the end of a session, since add is asynchronous and buffers recent messages
  3. Retry on 503 SESSION_BUSY or EXTERNAL_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE after a pause; nothing was written
  4. Keep host at 127.0.0.1 unless something in front adds authentication
  5. Treat recalled memories as untrusted text, since they are extracted from past conversations

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, claude-mem or EverOS?

EverOS scores 69.4 (B) on agent readiness against claude-mem's 54.6 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Do claude-mem and EverOS need an API key?

claude-mem takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. EverOS needs no key.

Can an agent call claude-mem and EverOS without installing anything?

claude-mem runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. EverOS runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

Are claude-mem and EverOS open source?

Yes. claude-mem is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, CLI, worker, MCP tools, adapters and docs. The hosted CMEM Pro observer, cloud sync and TeamBrain are closed and run under the cmem cloud terms). EverOS is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with claude-mem or EverOS

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