# Context Mode Engine vs Zep

> Zep scores 73.9 (BB) 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

Zep scores 73.9 (BB) 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
- Zep: grade BB, 73.9/100, rank #81 of 1171. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zep.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zep.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

### Zep (BB)

Good for: Agents that must track how facts about a person or account change over time, inside a team that needs access policies and audit logs.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 93 against 65
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 65
- Security & auth, 84 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 59 against 42

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.0 against 3.5 out of 5

Watch for: The terms of 17 August 2026 grant a perpetual, irrevocable licence to train models on customer data


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Context Mode Engine | Zep | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 70 | Zep +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 93 | Zep +28 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 87 | Zep +22 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 84 | Zep +49 |
| 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 | 80 | Zep +70 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 59 | Zep +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **45.8 · E** | **73.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Context Mode Engine | Zep |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | MKSF LTD | Zep |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.getzep.com/api/v4` |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Elastic License 2.0, source available with restrictions on hosted or managed services. | Apache-2.0 (examples repo). The service is closed-source |
| Tools exposed | 11 | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-29 | 2026-10-14 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-08-17 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2024-01-27 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| 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 | 4.9k stars, 130k npm/wk, 87k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

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

**Zep.** Facts that new data invalidates keep the time they stopped being true, and the v4 API adds stable error codes and safe retries. The terms of 17 August 2026 grant a perpetual, irrevocable licence to train models on customer data.

## 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.

### Zep

1. Use the 4.0 SDKs and store the UUID each create call returns. v4 calls take Zep UUIDs, not your own user or thread IDs
2. Set `return_context` when adding messages to skip a second round trip
3. Keep episodes short. Every 350 bytes past the first costs another credit
4. Branch on `error.code`. On a 429, wait for Retry-After with jitter. Free accounts over quota drop to 5 requests a minute
5. Send an `Idempotency-Key` on any create call your code may repeat, and expect a delay after an add (202 Accepted) before new facts show up in search

## Questions

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

Zep scores 73.9 (BB) 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 Zep need an API key?

Context Mode Engine needs no key. Zep takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Context Mode Engine runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Zep has a hosted endpoint at https://api.getzep.com/api/v4.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Context Mode Engine or Zep

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

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