---
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: 2026-10-15
---
# 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 an API that accepts timestamped text and returns ranked documents with source excerpts. It runs as a managed service or, on an Enterprise agreement, in your own cloud. Choose based on whether your team wants an engine or an API contract.

## 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 your own cloud) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Setup | Your pipelines, stores and config | JSON API and project key |
| Upkeep | Yours: versions, stores, reprocessing | Managed by past.dev, on our infrastructure or in your cloud account |
| Data locality | Your infrastructure | Managed service, or your own cloud account on an Enterprise agreement |
| Time input | What you build on the graph | Occurrence timestamp and optional query timestamp |
| Recall output | Graph and vector query results | Ranked documents with dated source excerpts |
| Cost model | Your compute and your time | Usage-based managed pricing; your own cloud by Enterprise agreement |

A knowledge graph records relationships. Current-state and historical queries may also require a [temporal model](/glossary/temporal-knowledge-graph). The past.dev public contract accepts occurrence timestamps and an optional recall perspective.

## 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 timestamped ingestion and source-backed recall through an API that runs as a managed service or, on an Enterprise agreement, in your own cloud. See the public [benchmarks](/benchmarks).

## Implementation resources

[Knowledge graph for LLMs](/knowledge-graph-for-llm) covers graph memory as a general architecture. The [quickstart](/docs/memory-api/quickstart) shows the past.dev ingestion and recall contract, including use from [LangGraph](/integrations/langgraph).

## Frequently asked questions

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

They have different delivery models. Cognee provides an open-source engine that teams operate. past.dev provides a JSON API that runs as a managed service or, on an Enterprise agreement, in your own cloud.

## 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)