Glen vs Zep
Glen and Zep are both memory layers for AI, and both go beyond a flat key-value store, but they target different builders. Zep is a memory platform for application developers, known for a temporal knowledge graph that tracks how facts change over time, integrated through its SDK and API. Glen is shared memory for AI agents delivered as a single MCP tool, scoped to an organization so every agent on a team draws from and contributes to the same store. This comparison contrasts them on scope, integration, the read-and-write flow, and how much work it takes to get a team going, so you can pick the model that matches your setup.
How they compare
| Dimension | Glen | Zep |
|---|---|---|
| Memory scope | Org-shared by default: all of an organization's agents share one memory store, so knowledge compounds across the whole team. | Per-user / per-session memory you manage inside your application; cross-team sharing is your responsibility to design. |
| Integration model | MCP-native single tool that drops into any MCP client with no application code. | SDK / API you embed into your application; you own the integration surface and orchestration. |
| Read + write flow | One MCP round trip returns relevant context and schedules the write of new observations from the same call. | Add-to-memory and retrieval are separate operations you coordinate in app logic. |
| Setup for a team | Connect once; teammates inherit the org's memory automatically, with no per-user store to provision. | Integrate and operate the service per application; team-wide sharing is an architectural choice you make. |
Verdict
Zep is a strong choice when you are building a single application and want sophisticated, time-aware memory through an SDK, its temporal knowledge graph is genuinely useful for reasoning about how facts evolve. Glen is the better fit when the unit you care about is the team, not the app: it gives an organization's agents one shared, MCP-native memory with read and write in a single round trip and no per-user silos. Choose Zep for deep in-app memory you build yourself; choose Glen for shared memory your whole org's agents use out of the box.
FAQ
- Does Zep offer org-shared memory by default?
- Zep focuses on per-user and per-session memory inside an application; sharing across an organization is something you design on top.
- How is Glen set up for a team?
- You connect the MCP server once and new teammates inherit the org's existing memory, with no per-user store to seed.