Context Engine vs Hob
Context Engine and Hob are both AI assistants tools. Context Engine is aimed at small businesses and developers, while Hob is aimed at freelancers and small businesses. Both have a free plan.
Shared memory that AI agents and team members read and write
Free open-source desktop AI coworker that runs models on your computer
| Pricing | Freemium · $12 | Open source |
| Starting price | $12/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Small businesses, Developers, Agencies | Freelancers, Small businesses, Developers |
| Platforms | web | macos, windows, linux |
| Country | US | — |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Context Engine if
Small teams and agencies that use several AI assistants and want one shared, auditable memory across them.
- Unlimited human users on every plan, including free
- Low entry price of $12 a month per engine
- Works with ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code and Cursor
Look elsewhere if: Developers who want an embeddable memory library inside their own agent code (Mem0, Zep).
Choose Hob if
Professionals and small teams who want a Claude-style desktop assistant for files and documents without sending data to the cloud.
- Completely free and MIT licensed with no account
- Chats and files stay on your computer, no telemetry
- Picks and installs a suitable model automatically
Look elsewhere if: Users who need the strongest reasoning or team features, or who have low-memory machines (Claude, ChatGPT).
Context Engine vs Hob pricing
Context Engine
- Free$01 agent (up to 3 via referrals) and 1 GB per engine, unlimited users
- Pro$12/moPer engine: 10 agents, 25 GB; $99/yr billed annually
- Unlimited$39/moPer engine: unlimited agents, 100 GB; $299/yr annually
- EnterpriseFrom $6,000/yrSelf-hosted install, SSO, roles and audit log
Hob
- Free$0MIT licensed, no account, subscription or usage limits
Context Engine · Key features
- Shared memory that AI tools read and save to over MCP
- Separate engines, each with its own database and search index
- Per-connection access set to read only or read and save
- Plain-language answers that cite their source memories
- Automatic daily, weekly and monthly summaries
- Duplicate detection that updates the existing memory
Cons
- Free plan allows one agent per engine, three at most through referrals
- Each connected tool counts as a separate agent
- Self-hosting only on the Enterprise plan from $6,000 a year
Hob · Key features
- Automatic hardware check and download of a fitting open-weight model
- Works on attached files or project folders with their own instructions
- Sandboxed Python with pandas, openpyxl and on-demand PyPI packages
- Reads PDFs including scans and fills PDF forms on Mac
- Image understanding with a local Qwen vision model
- Local metasearch web search and on-device dictation
Cons
- Local models are weaker than frontier cloud models on hard tasks
- Needs at least 8 GB RAM and 10 to 25 GB of disk
- PDF form filling is Mac only
Context Engine vs Hob: FAQ
Do Context Engine and Hob have a free plan?
Yes, both Context Engine and Hob have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.