Claude memory vs ChatGPT memory: how they compare

Last updated October 31, 2026

Claude and ChatGPT both remember across chats now, and both let you view, pause and delete what they remember. ChatGPT combines saved memories with references to your chat history; Claude builds memory from your chats and keeps a separate memory for each project. Claude can import memories from other assistants and includes memory in its data export, while OpenAI offers no way to move ChatGPT's memory to another app. Neither one shares its memory with the other, or with tools such as Codex or Claude Code. For that, connect them all to one memory server.

At a glance

Facts come from Anthropic's and OpenAI's own help centers, release notes and announcements, read on October 31, 2026. Links are in Sources at the end.

How Claude's memory works

Anthropic's help center says "Memory is on by default for Free, Pro, Max, and Ultra plans," and on Team and Enterprise "owners control whether memory is available, and it's off for each member until they turn it on." Memory reached free users on March 2, 2026. Paid plans can also search past chats.

Projects keep their own memory: "Each project has its own memory… Claude uses the project's memory alongside your memory from chats outside of projects, but not memory from other projects." To keep a project fully separate, turn off "Use account memory" for it.

You can pause memory, which keeps what Claude already remembers, or reset it. Incognito chats, available on every plan, "won't be saved to Claude's memory or your chat history." Claude can import memories from other assistants (an experimental feature that stores them "as individual memory entries"), and memory is included in data exports.

How ChatGPT's memory works

OpenAI describes two parts: "saved memories," which are "details that you explicitly ask ChatGPT to remember or that ChatGPT saves as useful context," and "Reference chat history," which uses "relevant information from past conversations." Saved memories are stored separately from chats, so deleting a chat doesn't delete a memory that came from it.

Projects use "either default memory or project-only memory," and shared projects always use project-only memory. Temporary Chats don't create or update memories. OpenAI documents no way to export ChatGPT's memory to another app. More detail: How ChatGPT memory works.

Where Claude's memory is the better fit

• You want to bring memories with you. Claude can import memories from another assistant, and includes memory in its export.
• You work in many projects. Each Claude project has its own memory by default.
• You're on the Free plan. Since March 2, 2026, Claude's memory from chat history is available to all users.

Where ChatGPT's memory is the better fit

• You want to tell it exactly what to remember. Saved memories are explicit entries you can ask for and manage one by one.
• You want one setting per project. A ChatGPT project can switch between default and project-only memory, and since August 14, 2026 that can be changed after creating the project.
• You live in ChatGPT. Its memory can also draw on connected apps, depending on plan and region.

Where a shared memory fits

Both memories belong to one assistant. What you tell Claude doesn't reach ChatGPT, and neither reaches Codex or Claude Code. If you use several, you'll repeat yourself or get different answers.

A memory server sits outside all of them. Add it to Claude as a custom connector, to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server, and to your coding agents, and sign in to the same account. Memlo is one: memories are titled notes you can read and edit, every change is a version with when it was written and by whom, and you can share a space with people. You can keep using Claude's and ChatGPT's own memory for personal preferences, and put the knowledge every agent needs in the shared one. See Claude custom connector and ChatGPT MCP server.

Frequently asked questions

Does Claude have memory like ChatGPT?

Yes. Claude remembers across chats and keeps a separate memory for each project. Memory has been available to all Claude users, including Free, since March 2, 2026.

Can I move my ChatGPT memory to Claude?

Claude has an experimental memory import on all plans, on the web and Claude Desktop: in Settings you start an import and Claude stores what it extracts as individual memory entries. OpenAI doesn't offer an export of ChatGPT's memory to other apps.

Which one is more private?

Both have a private mode: Claude's incognito chats and ChatGPT's Temporary Chats don't add to memory. Both let you pause or delete memory. Claude includes memory in its data export.

Can Claude and ChatGPT share memory?

Not through their built-in memories. Connect both to the same memory server, such as Memlo, and they read and write the same memories.

Sources

Checked on October 31, 2026:

• Use Claude's chat search and memory, Claude Help Center
• Import and export your memory from Claude, Claude Help Center
• Claude release notes, Claude Help Center
• Memory in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center
• Memory and new controls for ChatGPT, OpenAI
• Projects in ChatGPT and ChatGPT release notes, OpenAI Help Center
• Memlo: the setup page