--- title: "honcho vs cognee" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/plastic-labs-honcho-vs-topoteretes-cognee" tools: ["plastic-labs-honcho", "topoteretes-cognee"] --- # honcho vs cognee *GraphCanon updated Aug 19, 2026* ## Verdict Pick honcho if memory Library for Stateful Agents; pick cognee if when evaluating Cognee, consider its self-hosted persistence capability and the extensive support it offers through multiple programming languages (Python, Rust, TypeScript). It uses vector databases to provide efficient. [honcho](https://docs.honcho.dev) reports 6.7k GitHub stars, 824 forks, and 163 open issues, last pushed Aug 18, 2026. [cognee](https://www.cognee.ai) has 30k stars, 2.9k forks, and 359 open issues, last pushed Aug 19, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [honcho's repository](https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho) and [cognee's repository](https://github.com/topoteretes/cognee). | | [honcho](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho.md) | [cognee](/tools/topoteretes-cognee.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Memory library for building stateful agents | Cognee is the open-source AI memory platform for agents. | | Stars | 6,703 | 30,121 | | Forks | 824 | 2,937 | | Open issues | 163 | 359 | | Language | Python | Python | | Adopt for | Memory Library for Stateful Agents | When evaluating Cognee, consider its self-hosted persistence capability and the extensive support it offers through multiple programming languages (Python, Rust, TypeScript). It uses vector databases to provide efficient | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | AI Agents, Data & Retrieval | AI Agents, Vector Databases | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [honcho](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho.md) | [cognee](/tools/topoteretes-cognee.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Open issues (now) | 163 | 359 | | Stars delta | +659 (30d) | +1.5k (30d) | | Open issues delta | -3 (30d) | -265 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/topoteretes-cognee/trust.md) | ## Shared compatibility - **Python**: [honcho](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho.md) - Python runtime; [cognee](/tools/topoteretes-cognee.md) - Python runtime ## Decision facts: honcho - **Adopt for:** Memory Library for Stateful Agents ## Decision facts: cognee - **Adopt for:** When evaluating Cognee, consider its self-hosted persistence capability and the extensive support it offers through multiple programming languages (Python, Rust, TypeScript). It uses vector databases to provide efficient ## Choose when ### Choose honcho if… - License: honcho is AGPL-3.0, cognee is Apache-2.0. - Tags unique to honcho: embeddings, langchain, long-term-memory, memory. - Also covers Data & Retrieval. - Requires managing long-term and contextual memory in AI agents for statefulness. ### Choose cognee if… - License: cognee is Apache-2.0, honcho is AGPL-3.0. - Tags unique to cognee: docker, knowledge-graph, open-source, python. - Also covers Vector Databases. - - You are developing AI agents that require persistent long-term memory across different sessions. ## When NOT to use honcho - Do not need complex SDK support or a customizable framework approach. - Not interested in using stateful capabilities leveraging multiple APIs such as Gemini, Anthropic, and OpenAI. ## When NOT to use cognee - - Your project does not require persistent memory storage, or your agents operate fully within short-lived sessions without the need for past context. - - You are aiming for minimal setup overhead and prefer a cloud-based solution that requires less maintenance on your infrastructure side. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between honcho and cognee? honcho: Memory library for building stateful agents. cognee: Cognee is the open-source AI memory platform for agents.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose honcho over cognee? Choose honcho over cognee when License: honcho is AGPL-3.0, cognee is Apache-2.0; Tags unique to honcho: embeddings, langchain, long-term-memory, memory; Also covers Data & Retrieval; Requires managing long-term and contextual memory in AI agents for statefulness. ### When should I choose cognee over honcho? Choose cognee over honcho when License: cognee is Apache-2.0, honcho is AGPL-3.0; Tags unique to cognee: docker, knowledge-graph, open-source, python; Also covers Vector Databases; - You are developing AI agents that require persistent long-term memory across different sessions. ### When should I avoid honcho? Do not need complex SDK support or a customizable framework approach. Not interested in using stateful capabilities leveraging multiple APIs such as Gemini, Anthropic, and OpenAI. ### When should I avoid cognee? - Your project does not require persistent memory storage, or your agents operate fully within short-lived sessions without the need for past context. - You are aiming for minimal setup overhead and prefer a cloud-based solution that requires less maintenance on your infrastructure side. ### Is honcho or cognee more popular on GitHub? cognee has more GitHub stars (30,121 vs 6,703). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are honcho and cognee open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (honcho: AGPL-3.0, cognee: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to honcho or cognee? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [honcho alternatives](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho/alternatives) and [cognee alternatives](/tools/topoteretes-cognee/alternatives) ([honcho markdown twin](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho/alternatives.md), [cognee markdown twin](/tools/topoteretes-cognee/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/plastic-labs-honcho-vs-topoteretes-cognee.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, honcho or cognee? honcho: Very active. cognee: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for honcho and cognee? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [honcho trust report](/tools/plastic-labs-honcho/trust); [cognee trust report](/tools/topoteretes-cognee/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=plastic-labs-honcho`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=plastic-labs-honcho) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_