Semantic Kernel Memory

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/semantic-kernel/frameworks/agent/agent-memory

Microsoft Semantic Kernel's memory plugin ( Microsoft.SemanticKernel.Plugins.Memory ). Plug-in approach to long-term memory in the SK agent framework.

At a glance

Type
Memory plugin for SK agents
Tier
T2
Created
2023-02
Latest release
dotnet-1.75.0 2026-04-29
License
MIT
Pricing
OSS (MIT); no direct cost for library; pay only for Azure/model consumption when using managed Azure infrastructure
Funding
Microsoft-owned open-source project; no independent funding — part of Microsoft

Taxonomy

storage
vector
retrieval
similarity
persistence
cross-session
update
overwrite
unit
document
governance
inspectable
conflict
overwrite

When to use

Optimised for: Microsoft enterprise integration (Azure-first)

Anti-fit: not for non-Microsoft / non-SK stacks

Pros & cons

Pros

Microsoft-backed; first-class .NET support; integrates cleanly with Azure / M365 stacks.

Cons

.NET/Azure-shaped; smaller mind-share among Python-first AI engineers.

Claims & capabilities

Memory packages (.NET, Java, Python) reached General Availability late-2024/early-2025; H1 2025 roadmap added more sophisticated context-aware abstraction; ~27k★ GitHub stars (2026) — one of the most popular AI orchestration frameworks

Technical surface

API surface
SDK: C#, Python, Java
Backend storage
pluggable
Deployment
Both (on-prem, containers, any cloud, or Azure AI Foundry managed)
Embedding model
multiple supported
Multi-tenancy
namespace
MCP
via official adapter — SK MCP plugin
A2A
supported — SK A2A integration
OpenTelemetry
first-class — built-in OTel

Similar systems

Other framework-embedded memory in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.

  • LangGraph Persistence T2

    Distinct from LangMem. Built-in checkpointer saves graph state per super-step (short-term, thread-scoped). Store System adds long-term hierarchical key-value memory across threads with optional vector search + TTL. Postgres / Mongo / Redis stores for production.

  • AutoGen Memory T2

    ListMemory chronological context + teachable agents that vectorise corrections. Integrates with Mem0/Zep rather than building deep memory natively.

  • CrewAI Memory T2

    Memory subsystem inside the CrewAI orchestration framework; integrates with Mem0 for the long-term tier.

  • AGiXT Adaptive Memory T2

    Open-source AI automation platform. Routes between short-term and long-term memory adaptively across any LLM provider; plugin system for storage backends. Memory managed at the instruction-management layer — task context, instruction state, conversation history as unified agent state.

  • Agno (Phidata) Memory T2

    Agno (formerly Phidata). AgentStorage persists sessions to a DB; AgentMemory auto-classifies/store user preferences and conversation summaries. Single-line integrations with LanceDB, Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant.

  • Botpress LLMz T1

    Per-plan vector-DB storage quota + LLMz autonomous engine (in-session working memory) + Knowledge Base (semantic search over uploaded docs). Long-term user memory persists across sessions.

Related systems

References (1)

  • Azure Machine Learning depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: requires Semantic Kernel; BYO LLM (Azure-first); BYO vector store

Row last verified 2026-05-14. Catalog data is CC-BY-4.0 — see how to read this.