# Zep review

> Zep is a managed context and agent memory platform, Zep Cloud, with SDKs, examples and framework integrations for building AI agents.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/zep/

## TL;DR

Zep is a managed context layer that combines business data, documents and conversations into governed context that agents can retrieve. Zep is for developers adding memory or domain context to AI agents. Zep organizes that context in temporal Context Graphs and offers integrations for many agent frameworks. The getzep/zep repository holds examples and integrations, not the service itself.

## Zep at a glance

- **Category:** [RAG, data and memory](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/rag-data-and-memory/)
- **Maintained by:** Zep (organization, [@getzep](https://github.com/getzep) on GitHub)
- **License:** Apache 2.0
- **Language:** Python, TypeScript, Go
- **Repository:** [github.com/getzep/zep](https://github.com/getzep/zep)
- **Website:** [help.getzep.com](https://help.getzep.com)
- **npm package:** [@getzep/zep-cloud](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@getzep/zep-cloud) 4.0.1
- **PyPI package:** [zep-cloud](https://pypi.org/project/zep-cloud/) 4.0.1
- **Latest release:** [@getzep/zep-cloud 4.0.1](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@getzep/zep-cloud) on npm, Oct 20, 2026
- **First published:** Apr 29, 2023

## What Zep does

- Zep combines business data, documents and conversations into shared, governed context that agents can retrieve.
- Zep organizes context in temporal Context Graphs, served by the Context Lake on Konig, Zep's graph database service.
- Zep provides official SDKs for Python, TypeScript/JavaScript and Go.
- Zep ships integration packages for Google ADK, CrewAI, LangGraph, Pydantic AI, Mastra, Vercel AI SDK and other agent frameworks.
- Zep includes zep-ingest, a bulk ingestion pipeline for Slack, documents, email, JSON/CSV and fact triples.
- Zep offers governance features to control access to context, trace graph data to sources and review activity.
- Zep includes memory benchmarks (LoCoMo, LongMemEval) and an evaluation harness for ingestion and retrieval.

### How it works

Zep runs as a managed service, Zep Cloud. You sign up at getzep.com, install a Python, TypeScript or Go SDK, and send messages, threads, business data or documents into Context Graphs. Your agent then queries those graphs for context. Integration packages connect Zep to frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI and Mastra. Plugins add Zep to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Claude Desktop and ChatGPT Work.

## How to install Zep

**Python SDK with pip**

```
pip install zep-cloud
```

**TypeScript/JavaScript SDK with npm**

```
npm install @getzep/zep-cloud
```

**Go SDK**

```
go get github.com/getzep/zep-go/v3
```

### Requirements

- A Zep Cloud account.
- Python 3.10 or later, below 4.0, for the Python SDK.
- Node.js 18.0.0 or later for the TypeScript SDK.

### First steps

1. Sign up for Zep Cloud at www.getzep.com.
2. Install the official SDK for Python, TypeScript/JavaScript or Go.
3. Pick a quickstart in the docs: domain knowledge, agent memory, or customer and account context.
4. Add an integration package if you use a supported agent framework.

## Who Zep is for

- Developers adding long-term memory to AI agents built on frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI or Mastra.
- Teams that want agents to draw on business data, documents and chat history as one context.
- Enterprises that need access control and source tracing for agent context.

### Limitations

- Zep Cloud is a managed service; the getzep/zep repository contains only examples, integrations and tools, not the product.
- Zep Community Edition, the self-hosted version, is deprecated and unsupported.
- For an open-source option, Zep points to Graphiti, its temporal knowledge graph framework, which is a separate project.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Board rank: #310 overall, #30 in RAG, data and memory, momentum score 30
- Downloads that week: 259.5k (+7% vs 4-week average)
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 22; Aug 16: 18; Aug 23: 19; Aug 30: 17; Sep 6: 22; Sep 13: 11; Sep 20: 11; Sep 27: 19; Oct 4: 11; Oct 11: 12; Oct 18: 7; Oct 25: 14

## Zep alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [XERJ](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/xerj-org-xerj/) | 17.9k | – |
| #2 | [Memvid](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/memvid-memvid/) | 17.3k | – |
| #3 | [LEANN](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/startrail-org-leann/) | 13.7k | – |
| #4 | [Graphify](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/graphify-labs-graphify/) | 140k | 480.7k |
| #5 | [MarkItDown](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/markitdown/) | 193.2k | 4.7M |
| #6 | [Firecrawl](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/firecrawl/) | 197.4k | 2.9M |

## Zep FAQ

### Is Zep free and open source?

Yes. Zep's source code is on GitHub (getzep/zep) under the Apache 2.0 license, so you can use it for free.

### How do I install Zep?

Run `pip install zep-cloud`. It needs Node.js >=18.0.0. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Zep still maintained?

Yes. The getzep/zep repository was last updated on Oct 20, 2026, and the latest release, @getzep/zep-cloud 4.0.1 on npm, came out on Oct 20, 2026.

### How popular is Zep?

Zep has 5k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 14 new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 15 a week. Its main package had about 259.5k downloads that week, +7% against its own 4-week average. That made it #30 among RAG, data and memory tools on the Devtoolwatch Board.

### What are the best alternatives to Zep?

Other RAG, data and memory tools on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: XERJ (#1), Memvid (#2), LEANN (#3), Graphify (#4), MarkItDown (#5). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### Is the getzep/zep repository the Zep product?

No. The getzep/zep repository contains example code, framework integrations and tools for Zep Cloud, Zep's managed agent memory platform. Using Zep requires signing up at getzep.com.

### Can I self-host Zep?

Zep Community Edition is no longer supported, and its code has moved to the legacy folder. Zep points developers seeking open source to Graphiti, its open-source temporal knowledge graph framework.

### Which agent frameworks does Zep integrate with?

Zep has Python packages for Google ADK, Microsoft Agent Framework, AutoGen, AG2, CrewAI, LangGraph, LiveKit, Pydantic AI and Strands Agents. TypeScript packages cover Google ADK, Mastra and Vercel AI SDK. Go covers Google ADK.

### What is a Context Graph in Zep?

A Context Graph is a temporal graph where Zep organizes business data, documents and conversations as context agents can retrieve. The Context Lake manages and serves these graphs on Konig, Zep's graph database service.

### How do I load existing data into Zep?

Zep provides zep-ingest, a bulk ingestion pipeline that handles Slack, documents, email, JSON/CSV and fact triples. The docs also cover adding messages, threads, business data and batch ingestion.

## Sources

1. [getzep/zep on GitHub](https://github.com/getzep/zep)
2. [Zep README](https://github.com/getzep/zep/blob/main/README.md)
3. [@getzep/zep-cloud on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@getzep/zep-cloud)
4. [zep-cloud on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/zep-cloud/)
5. [Zep website](https://help.getzep.com)
6. [Release integrations/adk/go/v1.0.0 (Oct 14, 2026)](https://github.com/getzep/zep/releases/tag/integrations/adk/go/v1.0.0)
7. [Release zep-ingest-v0.4.0 (Oct 14, 2026)](https://github.com/getzep/zep/releases/tag/zep-ingest-v0.4.0)
8. [Release zep-ingest-v0.3.0 (Aug 28, 2026)](https://github.com/getzep/zep/releases/tag/zep-ingest-v0.3.0)
9. [Hacker News: Zep: Fast, scalable building blocks for production LLM apps](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37610864)
10. [Hacker News: Show HN: Zep – pgvector-based memory store for LLM apps](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36989618)
11. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)