Self-hosting gives control
Running the open-source engine yourself can be the right choice when infrastructure control, custom persistence, or internal deployment rules matter more than speed of operation.
Hosted APIs reduce operations
A hosted memory API removes database, vector index, key management, metering, webhook, and billing work from product teams that want to focus on agent behavior.
Choose based on burden
The practical question is not only whether memory can run locally, but who will monitor, secure, scale, and support it when your agents reach production traffic.