Craft AI vs Microsoft Recall
Craft AI vs Microsoft Recall: side-by-side comparison of two personal ai / pkm / lifelogging memory systems — architecture, taxonomy, license, pricing, MCP/A2A support, and direct edges.
Cost & capability
| Craft AI | Microsoft Recall | |
|---|---|---|
| Capability band | competent | competent |
| Capability composite | 50 | 45 |
| Cost tier | mid | free |
| Use cases | Memory Augmented Chat, Analytical Summarization | Memory Augmented Chat, Long Running Session, Offline Capable |
Where they differ (11)
Rows where both sides have data and the values disagree — the shortlist of dimensions that actually distinguish these two systems.
| Craft AI | Microsoft Recall | |
|---|---|---|
| Capability composite | 50 | 45 |
| Cost tier | mid | free |
| Use cases | Memory Augmented Chat, Analytical Summarization | Memory Augmented Chat, Long Running Session, Offline Capable |
| Type | Block-based docs + AI assistant | OS-level screen-recall timeline |
| Created | 2019 | 2024 (announced May 2024; GA rollout April 2025) |
| Pricing | Free; Plus $8/mo; Team $50/mo flat (up to 25 members) — from product claims row | Closed |
| Backend storage | searched not found | local SQLite (encrypted) |
| Deployment | Managed-only | On-prem |
| Embedding | searched not found | locked (Microsoft on-device) |
| A2A | searched not found | not supported |
| OpenTelemetry | searched not found | no — consumer product |
At a glance
| Craft AI | Microsoft Recall | |
|---|---|---|
| Section | Personal AI / PKM / lifelogging memory | Personal AI / PKM / lifelogging memory |
| Tier | T1 | T1 |
| Type | Block-based docs + AI assistant | OS-level screen-recall timeline |
| Created | 2019 | 2024 (announced May 2024; GA rollout April 2025) |
| Pricing | Free; Plus $8/mo; Team $50/mo flat (up to 25 members) — from product claims row | Closed |
| Funding | searched not found | — |
| Backend storage | searched not found | local SQLite (encrypted) |
| Deployment | Managed-only | On-prem |
| API surface | searched not found | — |
| Embedding | searched not found | locked (Microsoft on-device) |
| Multi-tenancy | searched not found | — |
| MCP | searched not found | searched not found |
| A2A | searched not found | not supported |
| OpenTelemetry | searched not found | no — consumer product |
| Optimised for | personal-knowledge-management UX + AI-augmented note-taking | personal-knowledge-management UX + AI-augmented note-taking |
| Anti-fit | not for enterprise / programmatic use; not for compliance-regulated workloads | not for enterprise / programmatic use; not for compliance-regulated workloads |
Taxonomy
| Axis | Craft AI | Microsoft Recall |
|---|---|---|
| storage | relational | file |
| retrieval | injection | similarity |
| persistence | long-term | long-term |
| update | overwrite | append-only |
| unit | document | episode |
| governance | user-controllable | user-controllable |
| conflict | overwrite | overwrite |
Pros & cons
Craft AI
Pros: Document-style structured AI works inside Craft's writing surface rather than as a chat overlay.
Cons: Craft's overall PKM market share has shrunk; AI is an enhancement layer, not a memory product.
Microsoft Recall
Pros: Most aggressive ambient capture of any major OS — every screen seen is searchable, then queryable.
Cons: Drew significant privacy backlash on launch (May 2024); only Copilot+ PC hardware supported.