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Knowtarium vs Basic Memory

Basic Memory gives your AI tools a lasting memory made of markdown files, served over MCP. Knowtarium is an end-to-end encrypted knowledge base that your own agents work in over MCP: we can't read your notes, and every change is signed by whoever made it and can be undone in one click.

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The short version

Which one is for you?

They solve different problems. Here's which one fits the way you work.

Choose Basic Memory if

You want one memory shared by Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor, free and open source on your own machine, or hosted with web and mobile access, semantic search and shared team workspaces.

Choose Knowtarium if

You want your agents' knowledge synced and end-to-end encrypted, every change signed and undoable, optional review for the folders that matter, and a record in each note of where its claims came from. Our guide to a Claude Code second brain shows the idea.

Side by side

Feature by feature.

TopicKnowtariumBasic Memory

Made forA private knowledge base that you and your own AI agents work inGiving AI tools a memory that lasts between conversations, which you can read and edit too

EncryptionEnd-to-end: notes, titles, file names and links are encrypted on your device, and we can't read them. The AI you connect sees what it readsLocal: plain files on your own machine. Cloud: encrypted on Basic Memory's servers in a private instance, not end-to-end

How agents work with itYour own agents over MCP: sets up Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and Claude Desktop, each limited to one workspace or some folders. claude.ai and ChatGPT laterMainly over MCP: tools to write, read, edit, move and search notes and to follow the graph; works with Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT and other MCP clients

Who changed whatEvery change is signed by whoever made it, you or a named agent, and can be undone in one clickNo built-in field for who wrote a note (custom frontmatter like author is free-form); in the cloud app, an activity feed shows changes from members and connected agents

Reviewing agent changesOptional: turn on review for a workspace or a folder, and agents' changes there wait for you as a diffIn the cloud app, an agent can propose suggestions you accept or reject one by one; agents can also write notes directly

FormatOKF, the open specification published by Google Cloud: markdown with fields for who wrote each note, where its claims came from and when it goes stalePlain Markdown with its own conventions: frontmatter (title, type, permalink, tags), categorized observations and typed wikilink relations, indexed in SQLite

Open sourceThe web app isn't; its encryption, CLI and MCP server are (MIT)Yes, under the AGPL-3.0, and free on your own machine

FreshnessNotes past stale_after are flagged for a refreshNo built-in expiry field; custom frontmatter is free-form

HistoryEvery version, with its diff and who made it, kept as long as you choose: 1 day to 1 year, set per workspaceCloud: every save creates a version you can compare and restore, plus daily snapshots. Local: your own backups, such as git

SearchFull-text search, built in your browser so we never see a queryFull-text and semantic search, with optional reranking

PlatformsA web app in your browser; no desktop or phone app yetLocal: a Python package with a CLI and MCP server, used alongside editors like Obsidian or VS Code. Cloud: web app and mobile access

TeamsNot yet: one person, with separate workspacesBasic Memory Teams: shared workspaces, member roles and editing a note together in real time

PriceFree with 500 MB and one workspace; Starter $5.99 a month for 2 GB, Pro $11.99 a month for 10 GB; two months free billed yearlyFree and open source locally; cloud from $15 per seat per month ($30 on Business), with a 7-day trial

Facts about Basic Memory checked on September 26, 2026 against basicmemory.com, docs.basicmemory.com and the basic-memory GitHub repository, and its cloud storage on October 5, 2026. Basic Memory is a product of Basic Machines; its name is a trademark of its owner. OKF is published by Google Cloud. Knowtarium isn't affiliated with either. Spot something out of date? Email support@knowtarium.com.