# Graphicle vs Zep

> Graphicle and Zep score within a point of each other for memory search, 69.8 and 69.3 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- 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)
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- Updated: 2026-10-16

Graphicle and Zep score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 69.8 (B) and 69.3 (B). Zep leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community. Both do memory search.

- Graphicle: grade B, 69.8/100, rank #175 of 1098. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/graphicle.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/graphicle.json
- Zep: grade B, 69.3/100, rank #201 of 1098. 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 65 memory comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-memory/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Graphicle (B)

Good for: A developer who wants one local tool that gives Claude Code, Codex or Cursor both code structure and project memory with citations.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 86 against 70
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 57

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source

Watch for: One release, v0.1.0 on 14 October 2026, from a repository created that day

### Zep (B)

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:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 83
- Security & auth, 84 against 69
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 48

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

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


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Graphicle | Zep | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 63 | 65 | Zep +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 89 | Zep +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 70 | Graphicle +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 69 | 84 | Zep +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | Graphicle +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 80 | Zep +32 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 57 | Graphicle +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.8 · B** | **69.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Graphicle | Zep |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | KarLex AI, Inc. | Zep |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.getzep.com/api/v2` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (examples repo). The service is closed-source |
| Tools exposed | 25 | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-09-24 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-03-14 | 2026-08-17 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-03-14 | 2024-01-27 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 144 stars | 4.9k stars, 130k npm/wk, 87k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Graphicle.** One local program gives a coding agent a code graph and project memory through 25 typed, annotated MCP tools that return cited excerpts within a token budget, with agent-written memories held for human approval. It is one day old at version 0.1.0, its SDKs are not on any registry, and the licence and advisory check fails on main.

**Zep.** Facts that new data invalidates keep the time they stopped being true. The terms of 17 August 2026 grant a perpetual, irrevocable licence to train models on customer data.

## Before you call either

### Graphicle

1. Call `recall_project` with a `max_tokens` budget, then `read_project_source` with the cited id and byte offset to continue a cut excerpt
2. Use `query_graph`, `get_neighbors` and `shortest_path` for structure questions, and pass `repo` to reach another synced project
3. Treat proposed memories as drafts. They are not served until a person approves them in `graphicle open` under Memory
4. Ask the user before running `graphicle setup`, which edits agent settings, AGENTS.md and Git hooks, and use `graphicle disconnect` to undo it
5. Over HTTP send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, never in the URL, and on 429 wait for the Retry-After reset

### Zep

1. Create the user and a thread before adding messages, as the quickstart does
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. Read Retry-After on a 429 and back off with jitter. Free accounts over quota drop to 5 requests a minute
5. Expect a delay after a graph add (202 Accepted) before new facts show up in search

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Graphicle or Zep?

Graphicle and Zep score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 69.8 (B) and 69.3 (B). Zep leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community.

### Do Graphicle and Zep need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Graphicle and Zep without installing anything?

Graphicle runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Zep has a hosted endpoint at https://api.getzep.com/api/v2.

### Are Graphicle and Zep open source?

Graphicle is open source (Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Zep.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Graphicle or Zep

- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Memory vs Graphicle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-memory-vs-graphicle.md)
- [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Memory vs Zep](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-memory-vs-zep.md)
- [Cognee vs Graphicle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cognee-vs-graphicle.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)
- [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)
- [Graphicle vs Graphiti](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-graphiti.md)
- [Graphicle vs Hindsight](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-hindsight.md)
- [Graphicle vs Honcho](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-honcho.md)
- [Graphicle vs Khoj](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-khoj.md)
- [Graphicle vs LangMem](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-langmem.md)
- [Graphicle vs Mem0 Platform + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-mem0.md)
- [Graphicle vs Supermemory API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/graphicle-vs-supermemory.md)

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