# Honcho vs Memory (MCP reference server)

> Honcho scores 64.1 (B) to Memory's 54.2 (C) for agent memory. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/honcho-vs-memory-reference-server
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/honcho-vs-memory-reference-server.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/honcho-vs-memory-reference-server.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/honcho-vs-memory-reference-server.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
- Updated: 2026-10-01

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.

- Honcho: grade B, 64.1/100, rank #364 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/honcho.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/honcho.json
- Memory (MCP reference server): grade C, 54.2/100, rank #690 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/memory-reference-server.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/memory-reference-server.json
- Best memory layers for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-memory/index.md
- All 55 memory comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-memory/index.md
- Best database, file and memory tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/data/index.md
- All 43 databases comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/data/index.md

## 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

| Category | Weight | Honcho | Memory (MCP reference server) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 52 | Memory (MCP reference server) +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 60 | Honcho +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 67 | Memory (MCP reference server) +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 32 | Honcho +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 80 | 60 | Honcho +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 43 | Honcho +30 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 72 | Memory (MCP reference server) +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.1 · B** | **54.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Honcho | Memory (MCP reference server) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Plastic Labs | MCP project (reference servers) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.honcho.dev/v3` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | yes, from $0.001/call | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | MIT and Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.plastic-labs/honcho` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-08-31 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2021-09-08 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-04-24 | 2023-03-15 |
| 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 | yes | 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 | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 7.4k stars, 18k npm/wk | 90k stars, 136k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (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).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Honcho or Memory (MCP reference server)

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

## 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.