Claude Mem
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Claude Mem is an open-source memory plugin. The local engine is free, and the printed cloud price and trial length do not match across pages.
The install that actually registers the hooks
Claude Mem is the memory plugin by Alex Newman. The repository is Apache-2.0. The README says the install that registers the hooks and starts the worker is npx claude-mem install. npm install -g claude-mem installs the SDK and the library only. It does not register the plugin hooks or set up the worker. Node.js 20.0.0 or higher is required. Bun and uv are installed if they are missing. SQLite is bundled. Settings are created at ~/.claude-mem/settings.json.
The default path then asks you to sign in to claude-mem in the browser, by email magic link, with no card. Signing in provisions a memory key and unlocks the claude-mem observer: memory that runs off your plan, free for up to 14 days. When that trial ends, memory falls back to your Anthropic plan unless you subscribe. After sign-in you pick a provider: the claude-mem observer, your own OpenRouter or Gemini key, or your Anthropic plan. To skip the account, pass an explicit --provider flag, set CLAUDE_MEM_ONLINE_OPTIN=false, or run the installer in CI or another non-interactive shell.
Sync stays off until you set a hub
The changelog says sync is off by default. CLAUDE_MEM_CLOUD_SYNC_HUB_URL starts empty, and nothing leaves the machine unless that hub URL is set. The note points at the cloud-sync doc. The indexed pricing FAQ says observations live in SQLite on your machine, privacy stripping runs as memory is generated, and cloud sync is strictly opt-in. cmem.ai returned HTTP 402 for this listing, so the prices below are that indexed text. The README and the changelog were read directly.
US$20 on the homepage, US$30 on the pricing page
The indexed homepage says the engine is free and open source, and that CMEM Cloud is live at US$20 a month, cancel anytime. The indexed pricing page prices Pro at US$30 a month. Its FAQ says CMEM Pro is 7 days free, then US$30 a month for solo developers: memory generation runs on their observer model instead of your Claude plan, and every observation syncs to the cloud behind one private MCP link. Team Cloud is US$333 per seat per month, with FDE onboarding. The indexed title of /pro says a free trial of up to 14 days, then US$30 a month.
The changelog entry dated 29 August 2026 says every CMEM Pro trial offer is now 30 days. The installer offers 30 days on every run, and 7 and 14 remain valid values on cmem.ai. The entry dated 31 August 2026 says the trial is 30 days everywhere: the installer already advertised a 30-day free trial and the server already issued 30-day checkout URLs, while every other surface still said 7. A later line says the README and the install docs now say 30 days, and that the words free week were changed to free trial. Another line says the trial copy says up to 14 days. The README fetched the same night, badge 13.29.0, still says up to 14 days.
Four cost lines on one installer screen
The changelog quotes the provider screen. CMEM Pro is marked recommended: observer model, off your plan, printed as US$0 per 1,000 observations and US$30 a month, with cloud sync included. The same note says CMEM Pro has no computed price per thousand: it is a flat subscription and does not bill your tokens. The other three rows are the estimates printed beside it.
- OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible key: about US$2.73 per 1,000 observations, billed to you.
- A Gemini API key: about US$3.39 per 1,000 observations, billed to you.
- Your Anthropic plan: about US$8.91 per 1,000 observations, billed to that Claude plan.
The pricing table, next to the local search
The indexed comparison is headed Roll it yourself against cmem.ai. Semantic vector recall reads Not included, then One query. One link across every machine reads Manual, per device, then Private MCP link. Offline-first cloud sync reads Not included, then Automatic. Working with every MCP client reads One at a time, then 8 agents and IDEs. The price row reads Infra + upkeep, then US$30 a month for Pro. The README says the local engine includes a Chroma vector database, and that search is hybrid semantic plus keyword. The table's Not included and the README's Chroma line are both left as printed.
The README says a web viewer shows the memory stream at the worker URL printed on startup. That viewer runs on your machine, separate from the CMEM Cloud price.