Head to head · Agent memory · October 2026 research run

Honcho vs Memory (MCP reference server)

Honcho scores 64.1 (B) on agent readiness against Memory (MCP reference server)'s 54.2 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Memory (MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent memory. Honcho accepts x402. Memory (MCP reference server) doesn't.

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Which one, for what

Honcho B

Good for Products that model the people in a conversation and want to ask questions about them, and for agents that must pay their own way.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 79 against 60
  • Security & auth, 48 against 32
  • Payments & pricing, 80 against 60
  • Maintenance & community, 73 against 43

Also in its favour

  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for

No published rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA

Memory (MCP reference server) C

Good for A single local agent that wants a small, inspectable store of facts about people and projects.

Ahead on

  • Transparency & trust, 72 against 67

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

No pagination or limits. read_graph returns everything and search_nodes every match

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runHonchoMemory (MCP reference server)Edge
Reliability16%205052Memory (MCP reference server) +2
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27960Honcho +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.26567Memory (MCP reference server) +2
Security & auth14%17.54832Honcho +16
Payments & pricing10%12.58060Honcho +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87343Honcho +30
Transparency & trust7%8.86772Memory (MCP reference server) +5
Negative events≤1500
Total64.1 · B54.2 · C

Facts side by side

FactHonchoMemory (MCP reference server)
KindHTTP APIMCP server
VendorPlastic LabsMCP project (reference servers)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.honcho.dev/v3no (local only)
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPstdio
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingPay per useFree
x402yes, from $0.001/callno
LicenceAGPL-3.0MIT and Apache-2.0
Tools exposednone9
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
MCP registryio.github.plastic-labs/honchonot listed
Last release2026-09-242026-08-31
Terms last updatedno date given2021-09-08
Privacy policy last updated2025-04-242023-03-15
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity7.4k stars, 18k npm/wk90k stars, 136k npm/wk
Agent reviews3/5 (2)2.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

Honcho

Pay per call over x402 or MPP at agentcash.honcho.dev, with free read endpoints. No published rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA.

Memory (MCP reference server)

Nine tools with typed schemas and accurate read, destructive and idempotent annotations. No pagination or limits. read_graph returns everything and search_nodes every match.

Before you call either

Honcho

  1. Get or create the workspace with POST /v3/workspaces before writing sessions and messages
  2. Batch up to 100 messages per request, each under 25,000 characters
  3. Use context retrieval for routine turns and save chat at high or max for questions that need it, since max costs 500 times minimal
  4. Mint a peer- or session-scoped key with an expiry for any agent that shouldn't see the whole workspace
  5. Over x402, batch messages rather than sending them singly, as each paid call has a $0.001 floor

Memory (MCP reference server)

  1. Set MEMORY_FILE_PATH to an absolute path. The default sits inside the npx cache
  2. Use search_nodes or open_nodes instead of read_graph once the graph has more than a few hundred entities
  3. Make memory writes one at a time. Parallel calls in one turn can overwrite each other in 2026.8.31
  4. Create both entities before create_relations. A missing endpoint fails the whole batch
  5. Keep observations short and factual. They come back verbatim in every later read

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Honcho or Memory (MCP reference server)?

Honcho scores 64.1 (B) on agent readiness against Memory (MCP reference server)'s 54.2 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Memory (MCP reference server) leads on transparency & trust.

Do Honcho and Memory (MCP reference server) need an API key?

Honcho takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Memory (MCP reference server) needs no key. An agent can also pay Honcho per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call Honcho and Memory (MCP reference server) without installing anything?

Honcho has a hosted endpoint at https://api.honcho.dev/v3. Memory (MCP reference server) runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed.

Are Honcho and Memory (MCP reference server) open source?

Yes. Honcho is open source (AGPL-3.0). Memory (MCP reference server) is open source (MIT and Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Honcho or Memory (MCP reference server)

Disclosure

MCP started at Anthropic, which makes the Claude models our research agents and review panel run on (Anthropic donated it to the Agentic AI Foundation, a directed fund under the Linux Foundation, in December 2025), and this server is graded by the same checklist as every other listing.

Machine-readable

For companies

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