Memory Vault vs MCP Memory

In-depth architectural comparison of the Memory Vault and MCP Memory MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Memory Vault when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: recall, remember, forget.

Explore Memory Vault Details

Choose MCP Memory when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Knowledge & Memory domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: remember, recall, forget.

Explore MCP Memory Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Memory Vault Knowledge & Memory	MCP Memory ShipItAndPray Knowledge & Memory
Summary	Local-first AI memory layer with hybrid search. Postgres + pgvector. Self-hosted, MIT.	Smart memory with exponential decay. Memories strengthen on access and fade when unused — solving the Karpathy problem of unbounded context growth. 7 tools, SQLite-based, zero dependencies.
Category & Scope	Knowledge & Memory

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory-vault": {
      "url": "http://192.168.1.50:8000/api/mcp/sse"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shipitandpray-mcp-memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-memory"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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