Claude Mem vs New API
Side-by-side comparison · Updated October 2026
| Description | Claude Code is powerful, but it starts every session with a blank slate. You explain your project structure, coding conventions, and past decisions over and over. Claude Mem fixes this by giving Claude Code a persistent memory layer. The plugin works as a lightweight MCP server that Claude Code connects to automatically. When you tell Claude something important — a naming convention, an architectural decision, a bug fix rationale — you can save it to memory with a simple command. On the next session, Claude Code loads those memories as context before it starts working. Memories are stored as structured files in your project directory. Each memory has a category (architecture, convention, decision, bugfix, todo) and a relevance scope (project-wide or directory-specific). This structure means Claude Code loads only relevant memories, keeping the context window clean. The plugin ships with automatic memory extraction too. When Claude Code finishes a task, Claude Mem can prompt it to save key learnings. This creates a growing knowledge base that gets smarter over time. After a week of use, Claude Code knows your project's patterns, your team's style, and your past debugging sessions. Installation takes about two minutes. Clone the repo, add it to your Claude Code MCP settings, and restart. No database to set up, no API keys to configure. Everything lives in your project's .claude-mem directory, which you can commit to git for team sharing. Claude Mem is free and open source. It works with any Claude Code setup — free tier, Pro, or Max. The memory format is plain Markdown, so you can read and edit memories directly if you want more control. | New API is a self-hosted AI gateway and model-management project maintained in the QuantumNous repository. It brings provider channels, access tokens, model restrictions, usage statistics and cost accounting into one interface. Teams supply their own authorized model-provider access and operate the gateway in their chosen environment. The gateway supports several API formats, including OpenAI-compatible requests, Claude Messages and Google Gemini. Compatibility has boundaries: the README marks Gemini-to-OpenAI conversion as text-only without function calling, and OpenAI-compatible to Responses conversion as in development. Test the exact endpoints, streaming behavior and tool calls your application uses before switching traffic. Routing features include weighted channel selection, automatic retry after failures and user-level model rate limits. The dashboard supports request-based, usage-based and cache-hit cost accounting, with token grouping and model-access controls. These controls can help organize usage, but retries and a common API format do not guarantee uninterrupted service or identical behavior across providers. The current repository license is AGPLv3. Docker Compose is the recommended quick-start path in the README, which also documents Docker commands with SQLite or MySQL. Running the software still involves infrastructure, operations and upstream model charges. Review the current license, secure your deployment and validate accounting against provider bills. Compare LiteLLM if you also want a Python SDK or a documented gateway for MCP servers and agents. |
| Category | DeveloperApplication | Developer Tools |
| Rating | No reviews | No reviews |
| Pricing | Free | Open Source |
| Starting Price | Free | N/A |
| Plans |
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| Tags | claude-code-pluginpersistent-memorycontext-managementmcp-serverdeveloper-tools | AI gatewayLLM routingmodel managementrate limitingusage accounting |
| Features | ||
| Persistent memory storage across Claude Code sessions with no re-explanation needed | ||
| Structured memory categories: architecture, convention, decision, bugfix, todo | ||
| Scoped relevance — project-wide or directory-specific memory loading | ||
| Automatic memory extraction prompts after task completion | ||
| Plain Markdown memory format that is human-readable and editable | ||
| MCP server integration — connects to Claude Code in two minutes | ||
| Git-friendly storage in .claude-mem directory for team sharing | ||
| Zero configuration — no database, no API keys, no external dependencies | ||
| Works with all Claude Code tiers: free, Pro, and Max | ||
| Growing knowledge base that accumulates project intelligence over time | ||
| Self-hosted AI gateway and model management | ||
| Provider channels, token groups and model restrictions | ||
| OpenAI-compatible, Claude Messages and Gemini format support | ||
| Documented limits on protocol conversion | ||
| Weighted channel selection and failure retries | ||
| User-level model rate limiting | ||
| Request, usage and cache-hit cost accounting | ||
| Docker Compose deployment documentation | ||
| View Claude Mem | View New API | |
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