Hosted vs Open Source

Which Cognis is right for you?

Cognis is available in two flavors. Choose based on your priorities:

Hosted (lyzr-adk)

Managed, production-readyGet started in 5 minutes with the Lyzr cloud API. Full async, 6 retrieval strategies, summaries.

Open Source (lyzr-cognis)

Local-first, zero infrastructureRuns entirely in-process. SQLite + Qdrant local. 3 dependencies, ~156 MB.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Hosted	Open Source

Setup
Install	`pip install lyzr-adk`	`pip install lyzr-cognis`
Time to first memory	~2 minutes	~3 minutes
Infrastructure needed	None (cloud API)	None (in-process)
API keys	`LYZR_API_KEY`	`GEMINI_API_KEY` + `OPENAI_API_KEY`
Data storage	Lyzr cloud	Local (`~/.cognis/`)

Core Memory
Add messages	✅	✅
Semantic search	✅	✅
Get/list memories	✅	✅
Delete memories	✅	✅
Update memories	✅	❌ (auto-dedup on add)
Get context	✅ `cog.context()`	✅ `m.get_context()`
Smart deduplication	✅	✅
Memory scoping	✅ `owner_id`, `agent_id`, `session_id`	✅ Same model

Search & Retrieval
Hybrid search (vector + BM25)	✅	✅ RRF fusion (70/30)
Matryoshka embeddings	✅	✅ (256D → 768D)
Recency boost	✅	✅ Exponential decay
Temporal query detection	✅	✅
Cross-session search	✅ `cross_session=True`	❌ (global scope by default)
Immediate recall	✅	✅ (256D session-scoped)
Retrieval strategies	6 (COGNIS, FOUR_WAY_TEMPR, etc.)	1 (hybrid RRF)

Advanced
Async support	✅ Full (`aadd`, `asearch`, etc.)	❌ Sync only
Summaries	✅ `store_summary`, `search_summaries`	❌
Get raw messages	✅ `get_messages()`	❌
Delete session	✅ `delete_session()`	✅ `clear(session_id=...)`
Memory categories	15	13 (customizable)
Memory versioning	✅	✅
Context manager	✅ Sync + async	✅ Sync only

Infrastructure
Storage backend	MongoDB + Qdrant + Neo4j + OpenSearch	SQLite + Qdrant local
Embedding provider	Pluggable (OpenAI, Nomic, Gemini)	Gemini 2
Data residency	Lyzr cloud	Your machine
Multi-tenant	✅ Production-scale	✅ Single-machine
Dependencies	`lyzr-adk`	3 packages (~156 MB)

Pricing
License	Usage-based	MIT (free)
Infrastructure costs	Included	Embedding + extraction API costs
Support	Included	Community + GitHub

Decision Guide

Choose Hosted if you want:

Production Scale

Managed infrastructure, auto-scaling, and enterprise storage (MongoDB + Neo4j).

Async Support

Full async/await API for high-throughput applications.

Summaries

Store and search conversation summaries across sessions.

Lyzr Ecosystem

Seamless integration with Lyzr Agent Studio and the ADK.

Choose Open Source if you need:

Data Privacy

All data stays on your machine. No cloud dependency for storage.

Lightweight

3 dependencies, ~156 MB install. Runs in-process, no servers.

Custom Configuration

Tune search weights, swap embedding models, customize categories.

Free

MIT license. Only pay for embedding and extraction API calls.

API Shape Comparison

Hosted (lyzr-adk)
Open Source (lyzr-cognis)

from lyzr import Cognis, CognisMessage

cog = Cognis(api_key="sk-your-api-key")

# Add — returns dict
cog.add(
    messages=[CognisMessage(role="user", content="Hello")],
    owner_id="user_1",
)

# Search — returns List[CognisSearchResult] (objects with .content, .score)
results = cog.search(query="greeting", owner_id="user_1", limit=5)
for r in results:
    print(r.content, r.score)

# Get — returns CognisMemoryList (object with .memories)
memories = cog.get(owner_id="user_1")
for m in memories.memories:
    print(m.id, m.content)

from cognis import Cognis

m = Cognis(owner_id="user_1")

# Add — returns dict with "success", "memories", "session_message_count"
m.add([{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}])

# Search — returns dict with "results" list of dicts
resp = m.search("greeting", limit=5)
for r in resp["results"]:
    print(r["content"], r["score"])

# Get all — returns dict with "memories" list of dicts
resp = m.get_all()
for mem in resp["memories"]:
    print(mem["memory_id"], mem["content"])

m.close()  # Required

Introduction

Key Concepts

Hosted vs Open Source

Which Cognis is right for you?

Hosted (lyzr-adk)

Open Source (lyzr-cognis)

Feature Comparison

Decision Guide

Choose Hosted if you want:

Production Scale

Async Support

Summaries

Lyzr Ecosystem

Choose Open Source if you need:

Data Privacy

Lightweight

Custom Configuration

Free

API Shape Comparison

Still Not Sure?

Try Hosted

Try Open Source

​Which Cognis is right for you?

Hosted (lyzr-adk)

Open Source (lyzr-cognis)

​Feature Comparison

​Decision Guide

​Choose Hosted if you want:

Production Scale

Async Support

Summaries

Lyzr Ecosystem

​Choose Open Source if you need:

Data Privacy

Lightweight

Custom Configuration

Free

​API Shape Comparison

​Still Not Sure?

Try Hosted

Try Open Source

Which Cognis is right for you?

Feature Comparison

Decision Guide

Choose Hosted if you want:

Choose Open Source if you need:

API Shape Comparison

Still Not Sure?