Memory (Knowledge Graph) vs Firecrawl

A side-by-side comparison of two AI, Data & Knowledge servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	Memory (Knowledge Graph) Official MCP server providing persistent, file-backed knowledge-graph memory across sessions. Verified stdio (local) No auth TypeScript	Firecrawl Official Firecrawl MCP server — scrape, crawl, map, search, and structured extraction for any LLM client. Verified stdio (local) API key TypeScript
Category	AI, Data & Knowledge	Search & Web
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	API key
GitHub stars	74k	6.6k
Last commit	5 months ago	6 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory`	`npx -y firecrawl-mcp`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Memory (Knowledge Graph) if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key.

Pick Firecrawl if you prefer its approach (official firecrawl mcp server — scrape, crawl, map, search, and structured extraction for any llm client).

Add Memory (Knowledge Graph)

Install / run

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory-knowledge-graph": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MEMORY_FILE_PATH": "/absolute/path/to/memory.jsonl"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add Firecrawl

Install / run

npx -y firecrawl-mcp

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "firecrawl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "firecrawl-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "<your-firecrawl-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Memory (Knowledge Graph) or Firecrawl — which is better?

Pick Memory (Knowledge Graph) if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key. Pick Firecrawl if you prefer its approach (official firecrawl mcp server — scrape, crawl, map, search, and structured extraction for any llm client).

Can I use both Memory (Knowledge Graph) and Firecrawl?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do Memory (Knowledge Graph) and Firecrawl work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View Memory (Knowledge Graph) →View Firecrawl →More comparisons →