# Context Mode Engine vs Graphiti

> Graphiti scores 53.3 (D) to Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E) for memory search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-19

Graphiti scores 53.3 (D) on agent readiness against Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Context Mode Engine leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do memory search.

- Context Mode Engine: grade E, 45.8/100, rank #993 of 1171. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/context-mode.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/context-mode.json
- Graphiti: grade D, 53.3/100, rank #804 of 1171. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/graphiti.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/graphiti.json
- Best memory layers for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-memory/index.md
- All 103 memory comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-memory/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Context Mode Engine (E)

Good for: Context Mode Engine indexes tool output and session events locally for coding agents.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 51
- Security & auth, 35 against 23

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for: Hosted-service restrictions under Elastic License 2.0

### Graphiti (D)

Good for: Teams that want Zep's temporal graph model on their own infrastructure and can run a graph database.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 50 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 65
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 65 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 42

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Every add runs LLM extraction, so ingestion costs tokens and time


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Context Mode Engine | Graphiti | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 50 | Graphiti +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 71 | Graphiti +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 51 | Context Mode Engine +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 23 | Context Mode Engine +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Graphiti +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 10 | 65 | Graphiti +55 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 71 | Graphiti +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **45.8 · E** | **53.3 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Context Mode Engine | Graphiti |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | Agent framework |
| Vendor | MKSF LTD | Zep |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Elastic License 2.0, source available with restrictions on hosted or managed services. | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 11 | 13 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-29 | 2026-09-08 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 31k stars | 29k stars, 151k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Context Mode Engine.** Local indexing and selective retrieval. Hosted-service restrictions under Elastic License 2.0.

**Graphiti.** Apache-2.0, with FalkorDB, Neo4j or Amazon Neptune as the store. Every add runs LLM extraction, so ingestion costs tokens and time.

## Before you call either

### Context Mode Engine

1. Choose the installation guide for the exact coding client.
2. Check host permissions before enabling code execution.
3. Review the Elastic licence before hosting Engine for others.

### Graphiti

1. Set OPENAI_API_KEY (or another provider's key) and MODEL_NAME before starting the MCP server
2. Use search_memory_facts for facts and search_nodes for entities instead of reading whole episodes
3. Never call clear_graph to fix one fact. Use delete_episode or delete_entity_edge
4. Pass group_ids on every search and add so one user's graph doesn't leak into another's
5. Call get_status to check the database connection before a long ingest

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Context Mode Engine or Graphiti?

Graphiti scores 53.3 (D) on agent readiness against Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Context Mode Engine leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Can an agent call Context Mode Engine and Graphiti without installing anything?

Context Mode Engine runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Graphiti runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

### Are Context Mode Engine and Graphiti open source?

No open-source release is listed for Context Mode Engine. Graphiti is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-graphiti.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-graphiti.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "context-mode", "b": "graphiti"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare context-mode graphiti`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/context-mode.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/graphiti.json

## Other comparisons with Context Mode Engine or Graphiti

- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Memory vs Graphiti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-memory-vs-graphiti.md)
- [Cognee vs Graphiti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cognee-vs-graphiti.md)
- [Graphiti vs Hindsight](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-hindsight.md)
- [Graphiti vs Honcho](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-honcho.md)
- [Graphiti vs Hy Memory](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-hy-memory.md)
- [Graphiti vs LangMem](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-langmem.md)
- [Graphiti vs LocalGhost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-localghost.md)
- [Graphiti vs Mem0 Platform + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-mem0.md)
- [Graphiti vs Memory (MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-memory-reference-server.md)
- [Graphiti vs Supermemory API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-supermemory.md)
- [Graphiti vs Zep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphiti-vs-zep.md)
- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Memory vs Context Mode Engine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-memory-vs-context-mode.md)
- [AI Memory vs Context Mode Engine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ai-memory-vs-context-mode.md)
- [AI Memory vs Graphiti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ai-memory-vs-graphiti.md)
- [Cognee vs Context Mode Engine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cognee-vs-context-mode.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Graphicle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-graphicle.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Hindsight](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-hindsight.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Honcho](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-honcho.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Hy Memory](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-hy-memory.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-khoj.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs LangMem](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-langmem.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Mem0 Platform + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-mem0.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Supermemory API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-supermemory.md)
- [Context Mode Engine vs Zep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-zep.md)
- [Graphicle vs Graphiti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-graphiti.md)

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