Every AI tool you use starts from zero. Tell Claude Code your preferences, switch to Cursor, and it knows nothing. Open Codex, start over. You repeat the same context all day: the stack, the deploy target, the API version, the conventions.
A shared memory layer fixes this. It is one store of your AI conversations, decisions, and rules that every connected AI tool can read from and write to. Brief one tool once; the rest pull from the same memory instead of starting from zero. Two products answer this need with nearly identical positioning: Vilix AI and Smara. They take different bets on what "memory" means, who runs the infrastructure, and how you pay. Here is the honest breakdown.
The quick verdict
| Vilix AI | Smara | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Many AI tools plus background agents, memory with work state, zero infrastructure | Quantified per-memory pricing, self-host option |
| Hosting | Cloud-hosted, you manage nothing | Cloud, or self-hosted (MIT open source) |
| Starting price | Free plan; paid from $10/mo | Free (10,000 memories); paid from $19/mo |
| One-line difference | Full conversations plus projects, tasks, and rules | Open source with transparent memory-unit pricing |
Read the full breakdown before deciding.
Head to head
| Vilix AI | Smara | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Cloud only | Cloud, or self-hosted (Docker; PostgreSQL 15+ with pgvector and a Voyage AI key) |
| Open source | No, managed service | Yes, MIT license |
| Tool coverage | Claude, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Grok, Manus AI, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Lovable, Muse, any MCP-compatible AI | Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf via MCP; CrewAI and LangChain via Python SDKs; Paperclip plugin; OpenAI/Codex via REST API |
| What gets stored | Full conversation exchanges with source metadata, derived memories, projects, tasks, personal rules, reusable agent skills | Memory units with source tags; teams and custom skills on paid tiers |
| How you connect | OAuth, or API key as Bearer header to https://api.vilix.ai/mcp (works for headless agents); each client needs its own one-time setup |
MCP server package (@smara/mcp-server), Python SDKs, or REST API; free API key, no credit card |
| Retrieval | Semantic RAG over a vector database: finds what you meant, not just what you typed. Recency-aware | Semantic memory with Ebbinghaus forgetting-curve scoring: frequently used facts stay strong, old noise fades |
| Conflict handling | Last write wins, stated publicly: the newest saved version is what every tool sees; correct things in one place | Contradiction detection: a new conflicting fact soft-deletes the old one |
| Pricing | Free $0 forever / Starter $10/mo or $100/yr / Pro $20/mo or $200/yr / Power $49/mo or $469/yr. 7-day Pro trial, no credit card | Free $0 (10k memories, 1 team/3 members, 2 agents) / Developer $19/mo (200k memories, 3 teams/10 members, 10 agents + 5 custom skills) / Pro $99/mo (2M memories, unlimited teams/50 members, unlimited agents) |
| Data control | Export everything in a portable format anytime; delete individual memories or wipe the account instantly | The self-hosted option means you hold the data; on cloud, check their docs |
Smara pricing and features verified from the smara-io/smara GitHub README, read 2026-09-24. Vilix AI details from vilix.ai/pricing, also read 2026-09-24.
Where Smara is stronger
Three things Smara does that Vilix AI does not:
- Self-hosting. Smara is MIT-licensed with a Docker-based self-host setup. If your data cannot leave your hardware, that is decisive, and no cloud-only tool can argue with it.
- Quantified pricing. Smara tells you exactly what you get: 10,000 memories free, 200,000 on Developer. You can do the math before you sign up.
- Teams from the start. Even the free tier includes a team of 3. Vilix AI is built around one user's memory across their tools; shared team memory is not its model.
Where Vilix AI is stronger
- Full conversations, not just extracted facts. Vilix AI stores the actual exchanges, so you can revisit the real discussion: the reasoning, the dead ends, the why behind a decision from three weeks ago.
- A work-state layer, not just a memory store. Projects, tasks, rules, reusable agent skills, an agent inbox. The memory and the work live in one place, editable from any connected AI or the dashboard at app.vilix.ai.
- Headless agents included. Beyond the usual coding tools, it connects background and scheduled agents like Hermes and OpenClaw over a plain API key, so the agents that run while you are away share the same memory as your interactive sessions. One memory, every device, every app.
- Zero infrastructure. No database to run, no embedding keys to manage. For operators who already maintain scheduled agent runs, one less system to run is a feature, not a footnote.
The honest tradeoff
Vilix AI is cloud-only. There is no self-host option, no open-source server, and your memories live on Vilix AI's infrastructure. If data residency or self-hosting is a hard requirement, Smara is the better fit here, full stop.
The counterweight, and it is real: your data is portable and deletable. Export everything in a portable format whenever you want, delete individual memories or wipe the whole account instantly, no waiting period. Free plan forever, 7-day Pro trial with no credit card. The lock-in argument cuts both ways, but only the portability half is verifiable, so weigh it accordingly.
Second tradeoff: each AI client needs its own one-time setup with Vilix AI. One approval does not silently configure every tool you own, so connecting five tools takes five small setups, not one.
Which should you pick?
- Pick Smara if you need to self-host, want exact per-memory pricing math, or you are buying for a small team on day one.
- Pick Vilix AI if you bounce between many AI tools (including agents that run without you), want your full conversation history rather than extracted facts, and would rather manage zero infrastructure.
- Run both free tiers if you are unsure. Both are free to try with no credit card, and a week of real usage answers the question better than any comparison page.
FAQ
Which is cheaper?
Smara's Developer tier ($19/mo) and Vilix AI's Pro tier ($20/mo) are priced almost identically, but they meter differently: Smara counts memories (200,000 on Developer), Vilix AI sells plan tiers with a 7-day Pro trial. Re-check both pricing pages; prices change.
Is Smara really open source?
Yes. The smara-io/smara repo is MIT-licensed, and they publish a self-hostable API server. Vilix AI is a managed cloud service with no self-host option.
Why should you trust this comparison?
You should not, blindly. This comparison is published by the team behind Vilix AI. Verify the Smara column against smara.io and their GitHub README, and run both free tiers before paying for either.
Sources: Vilix AI facts verified against vilix.ai and the product truth sheet. Smara facts from the smara-io/smara GitHub README, read live 2026-09-24.
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