Cognee: what it remembers, who owns it, and what it costs
thecontinuitylayer.com/memory-systems/cogneeAn open-source memory engine that turns documents and conversations into graph and vector memory with multi-user datasets, plus a usage-priced Cognee Cloud.
- 1Yes
Is Cognee open source?
Yes, by Cognee's own page.
The repository is licensed Apache-2.0.
Yes means: The core is under an open-source license.
- 2Yes
Can you run Cognee yourself?
Yes, by Cognee's own page.
Runs locally for free with no API key required, with a Docker image and Compose for the API, UI and MCP server; free to self-host.
Yes means: It runs on your own machine or server.
- 3Partly
Can you take your memory out of Cognee?
Partly, by Cognee's own page.
Self-hosted data sits in backends you run, with per-user directories; no export API is documented, though an import format exists for moving in from Mem0, Letta, Zep and Graphiti.
Yes means: An export, or the data sits in a standard store you own.
- 4Yes
Does Cognee work with more than one model provider?
Yes, by Cognee's own page.
Supported providers include OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio, Hugging Face, llama.cpp and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
Yes means: It is not tied to one provider's models.
- 5Yes
Is there a hosted Cognee?
Yes, by Cognee's own page.
Cognee Cloud is the managed option.
Yes means: A cloud or managed option exists.
- 6Yes
Does Cognee have a free tier, and what is the entry price?
Yes, by Cognee's own page.
Free at $0 with one workspace and a token allowance; Standard at $1 per million tokens plus $5 per extra workspace a month; Enterprise by contact.
Yes means: A free tier exists and the entry paid price is published.
- 7Partly
Does Cognee scope memory per user and per session?
Partly, by Cognee's own page.
Scoped by user, tenant and dataset with read, write, delete and share permissions and full data isolation; session-level memory is not described.
Yes means: Both per-user and per-session or per-agent memory are supported.
- 8Partly
Can you delete a user's memories from Cognee?
Partly, by Cognee's own page.
Delete operations remove items and datasets the current user may delete, including graph nodes and embeddings; there is no parameter to target another user's data.
Yes means: A documented way to delete everything for one user.
What these grades say about continuity, and what they do not.
Every grade on this site is read from the maker's own pages. The Continuity Framework asks five things of any system that carries state: that it carry, govern, evolve, prove and forget. These tests reach carry, govern and forget; they do not reach evolve or prove, which no maker's page documents in a gradeable way. A high letter is a good memory system, not a continuity layer.
- M1 Open sourceCarry
- Open source means the memory engine can outlive the vendor; the state is not hostage to a contract.
- M2 Self-hostCarry
- Self-hosting puts the store under the owner's control, which is the precondition for every other obligation.
- M3 ExportCarry
- An export is question C3: can the state leave in a form another system reads? A standard store you own answers it; a proprietary dump only partly.
- M4 Any modelCarry
- Working with more than one model provider is question C2: the memory, not the model, holds the state.
- M7 ScopingGovern
- Scoping per user, agent and session is question G2: who may read and write each item. It is the floor of governance, not the ceiling.
- M8 DeleteForget
- A documented delete for one user is rung 5 of the erasure ladder: the record leaves the store. Derived memories, the index and backups are not covered unless the maker says so. Rung 5 of the erasure ladder: delete the record.
License as stated: Apache-2.0. Every grade above is read from Cognee's own page on the day shown. If a page has changed, tell us.