NeoHive vs Basic Memory
For the local-first, plain-Markdown crowd. NeoHive is a context engineering layer that runs on-premises and returns your team’s knowledge and live codebase in a single query, via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
What Basic Memory is
A local-first knowledge system that builds a semantic graph from plain Markdown files you own and edit. It exposes MCP tools (write_note, search_notes, build_context), stays compatible with Obsidian, and now offers a cloud-hosted version alongside the local one.
Your notes live as Markdown on disk. Basic Memory indexes them with SQLite and links observations and wikilinks into a semantic graph that both you and the AI read and write.
At a glance
| Basic Memory | NeoHive | |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Markdown files on disk you edit | Indexed knowledge + code, server-managed |
| Codebase | No codebase sync | Live Git sync as one retrieval surface |
| Team | Single-user / local focus (cloud version exists) | Multi-hive team store, self-hosted on-prem |
| Retrieval | Semantic graph built from notes | Deterministic retrieval over notes and code together |
Details as of July 2026 and change often; verify current capabilities with each vendor.
Where Basic Memory is strong
- Total transparency: files on disk, human-editable, Git-friendly, Obsidian-compatible
- Simple, no infrastructure to run
Where it leaves a gap
- Single-user / local focus
- No shared team server in the local mode
- No codebase sync; the graph is built from notes, not your code
The difference
Basic Memory is your notes; NeoHive is your team’s notes plus live code as one searchable surface, on a shared server your team runs on-prem.