---
title: "Cognee vs past.dev"
description: "Cognee is an open-source engine that builds a knowledge graph in your infrastructure. Compare its operation and temporal model with the past.dev API."
canonical: https://past.dev/compare/cognee
last-updated: 2026-08-31
---
# Cognee and past.dev

Source: https://past.dev/compare/cognee

Cognee is an open-source engine that turns documents and data into a knowledge graph with embeddings in infrastructure you operate. past.dev is a managed or self-hosted API that accepts timestamped text and returns dated evidence with explicit response status. The managed service operates the graph and its temporal model for you.

## What cognee is

[Cognee](https://github.com/topoteretes/cognee) is an open-source memory engine. Its pipelines build a knowledge graph with vector search from supplied data. Teams choose the stores, run the processing and can customize the graph model.

## Operational comparison

| Concern | Cognee (self-operated) | past.dev (managed or self-hosted) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Setup | Your pipelines, stores and config | Four HTTP calls |
| Upkeep | Yours: versions, stores, reprocessing | Managed by past.dev, or by your team when self-hosted |
| Data locality | Your infrastructure | Managed service or your infrastructure |
| Temporal model | What you build on the graph | Validity windows, supersession, as-of recall, built in |
| Recall output | Graph and vector query results | Ranked, dated evidence with a status value |
| Cost model | Your compute and your time | Usage-based managed pricing; self-hosted terms by agreement |

A knowledge graph records relationships. Current-state and historical queries also require a [temporal model](/glossary/temporal-knowledge-graph) that records validity periods and supersession. past.dev includes that model in the service.

## When to use each product

- **Choose cognee** when you want to own and operate the engine: open source, your infrastructure, your graph schema, and engineering time available for the pipeline.
- **Choose past.dev** when you want temporal storage, dated evidence, and an insufficient-evidence status without running the processing infrastructure. See the public [benchmarks](/benchmarks).

## Implementation resources

[Knowledge graph for LLMs](/knowledge-graph-for-llm) covers graph memory. [Fact supersession](/glossary/fact-supersession) explains update handling. The [quickstart](/docs/memory-api/quickstart) shows ingestion and recall in four calls, including use from [LangGraph](/integrations/langgraph).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is cognee a direct competitor to past.dev?

They both use graph-based memory but have different delivery models. Cognee and Graphiti provide open-source engines that teams operate. past.dev provides hosted and self-hosted deployments with temporal storage and explicit recall status.

## Related

- [Knowledge graph for LLMs](https://past.dev/knowledge-graph-for-llm)
- [past.dev vs Zep](https://past.dev/vs/zep)
- [Temporal knowledge graph](https://past.dev/glossary/temporal-knowledge-graph)
- [What is agent memory?](https://past.dev/what-is-agent-memory)
- [Quickstart](https://past.dev/docs/memory-api/quickstart)