# Context Mode Engine vs Supermemory API + MCP

> Supermemory scores 63.6 (B) to Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E) for memory search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-supermemory
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-supermemory.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-supermemory.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/context-mode-vs-supermemory.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.
- Updated: 2026-10-19

Supermemory API + MCP scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Context Mode Engine leads on payments & pricing. 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
- Supermemory API + MCP: grade B, 63.6/100, rank #433 of 1171. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/supermemory.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/supermemory.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:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Hosted-service restrictions under Elastic License 2.0

### Supermemory API + MCP (B)

Good for: Apps that need user memory and document search over the same data, and for multi-tenant products that want a key per user.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 65
- Security & auth, 54 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 49 against 42

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Open source

Watch for: No legal entity named in the terms or privacy policy


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Context Mode Engine | Supermemory API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 65 | Supermemory API + MCP +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 85 | Supermemory API + MCP +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 73 | Supermemory API + MCP +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 54 | Supermemory API + MCP +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | Context Mode Engine +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 10 | 85 | Supermemory API + MCP +75 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 49 | Supermemory API + MCP +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **45.8 · E** | **63.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Context Mode Engine | Supermemory API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | MKSF LTD | Supermemory |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.supermemory.ai` |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for memory search | not published | $0.005 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Elastic License 2.0, source available with restrictions on hosted or managed services. | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 11 | 8 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-29 | 2026-09-21 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2025-06-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 31k stars | 31k stars, 121k npm/wk, 45k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

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

**Supermemory API + MCP.** 8-tool hosted MCP with OAuth and per-space read or write permission. No legal entity named in the terms or privacy policy.

## 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.

### Supermemory API + MCP

1. Use one stable `containerTag` per user and a `customId` per session
2. Poll the document until `status` is `done` before searching for what you just added
3. Treat a 402 on search or profile as out of credit, not as a bug
4. Run the prompt-based mass forget with `dryRun` first
5. Call who_am_i on the MCP to see which spaces you can write to before adding

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Context Mode Engine or Supermemory API + MCP?

Supermemory API + MCP scores 63.6 (B) on agent readiness against Context Mode Engine's 45.8 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Context Mode Engine leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Context Mode Engine and Supermemory API + MCP need an API key?

Context Mode Engine needs no key. Supermemory API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Context Mode Engine and Supermemory API + MCP without installing anything?

Context Mode Engine runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Supermemory API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.supermemory.ai.

### Are Context Mode Engine and Supermemory API + MCP open source?

No open-source release is listed for Context Mode Engine. Supermemory API + MCP is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Context Mode Engine or Supermemory API + MCP

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

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