OpenClaw and Hermes Agent are both free, MIT-licensed engines that turn a language model into an agent with memory, tools and scheduled tasks. Pick OpenClaw if you want the biggest community and the largest library of ready-made skills. Pick Hermes if you want an agent designed around writing, improving and reusing its own procedures, with a small memory it keeps tidy.

The two have moved closer over the past year. OpenClaw's Skill Workshop now lets its agent write and fix its own skills, and Hermes can install skills from OpenClaw's ClawHub registry and import an existing OpenClaw setup. The bigger practical difference today is hosting: Nous Research runs an official cloud for Hermes, while the OpenClaw project offers no hosted tier of its own.

Disclosure: BeLateral makes Able°, which gives you a hosted agent that runs on Hermes by default, with NanoClaw as the other engine option. Able° doesn't offer OpenClaw.

How they compare

OpenClaw Hermes Agent
Made by OpenClaw Foundation (independent non-profit) Nous Research
Licence and cost MIT; free software, you pay for server and model MIT; free software, you pay for server and model
Community Larger; the highest-starred agent repository on GitHub Smaller but substantial
Memory Markdown files: a profile, long-term notes and searchable daily notes Two small, bounded files (about 2,200 and 1,375 characters) plus search of past sessions
Skills ClawHub registry, plus skills the agent learns itself Bundled catalogue and Skills Hub (which includes ClawHub), plus skills the agent creates and improves
Scheduling Built-in automations Built-in cron jobs
Setup One-line installer and guided onboarding; many optional plugins One-line installer, setup wizard and desktop app
Official hosting None; third-party hosts only Hermes Cloud, from Nous Research
Best for Tinkerers and teams who want maximum flexibility People who want a working agent with less assembly

GitHub star counts on 24 October 2026: OpenClaw about 393,000, Hermes Agent about 257,000. Stars measure attention rather than quality, but they're a fair guide to how many people you can ask for help.

What is OpenClaw good at?

OpenClaw was built to live in messaging apps. One gateway connects a model to Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord and others, gives it memory and tools, and keeps it running. Memory is plain Markdown in the agent's workspace, and a built-in scheduler handles recurring jobs. Docs are at docs.openclaw.ai and the code at github.com/openclaw/openclaw.

Its strength is breadth. ClawHub holds a very large number of community skills and plugins, so if you want your agent to do something specific, someone has often written it already. More people using it also means more forum threads from someone who hit your exact error last month.

That breadth brings more decisions. There are more ways to configure OpenClaw, more community advice of mixed quality, and skills that range from excellent to abandoned. A popular skill on ClawHub isn't automatically a well-maintained one, so read it before you install it.

What is Hermes Agent good at?

Hermes Agent, from Nous Research, is built around continuity: persistent memory, scheduled tasks, and skills the agent writes for itself after working something out. It connects to a long list of chat apps through one gateway too. Docs are at hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs and the code at github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent.

The memory design is the most distinctive part. Two files, capped at about 2,200 and 1,375 characters, load at the start of every session. When they fill up, the agent has to consolidate rather than keep adding notes, while older conversations stay searchable separately. The result is an agent that carries a short, current picture of you rather than a long pile of everything.

The trade-offs follow from that. A tight cap means some detail gets dropped. A smaller community means fewer ready answers, although Skills Hub can pull from ClawHub. And because the agent saves its own procedures, you'll want to review them now and then: it can save a mistake as readily as a good method.

Is there an official hosted version of either?

For Hermes, yes. Hermes Cloud is run by Nous Research and billed from prepaid credits: compute by the second plus storage, with a $2 minimum credit or a Nous Portal plan from $20 a month (checked 24 October 2026).

For OpenClaw, no. The project's own site states "No subscription. No hosted tier." (openclaw.ai, checked 24 October 2026). Managed OpenClaw is widely available from independent companies, including Hostinger, MyClaw and a service sold as OpenClaw Cloud at getopenclaw.ai, but none of them is run by the OpenClaw project. Our comparison of hosted agent platforms covers prices.

Where each one wins

Ready-made skills and community help. OpenClaw. It's the home of ClawHub and has more users, though Hermes can install from ClawHub as well.

Memory. Neither wins; they take different approaches. Hermes keeps a small curated memory the agent has to prune. OpenClaw keeps fuller Markdown notes, including daily notes, searches them and periodically distils them into long-term memory. If you want the agent to remember a lot of detail, OpenClaw's approach suits you better; if you'd rather it stayed focused, Hermes's does.

Self-improvement. Close. The learning loop is central to Hermes. OpenClaw's Skill Workshop now saves and patches learned skills too, with version history and undo.

Setup. Similar at the start, since both install with one command and a guided setup. OpenClaw puts more into optional plugins, which rewards people who enjoy configuring things.

Switching. Hermes includes an import command for OpenClaw settings, memories and skills. Going the other way takes manual work. Both use the same SKILL.md style for skills, which helps.

Which should you run?

You enjoy tinkering, or need a specific integration: OpenClaw. Check ClawHub first; if what you need already exists there, that settles it.

You want the agent to build up its own way of working with you: Hermes. Its design assumes the agent gets better at your routines over time.

You want an official managed service from the people who make the engine: Hermes, through Hermes Cloud. OpenClaw only has third-party hosts, though there are plenty of them.

You want model access and tools from one sign-in: Hermes with Nous Portal.

You don't want to run a server, or can't yet name three tasks to hand over: neither, for now. Start with a hosted agent or a chat tool. Our guide to hosted vs self-hosted agents walks through the choice.

What does running either one involve?

The engine is the free part. Whichever you pick, you also take on:

A server that stays awake. A small VPS is enough for a personal agent; a laptop that sleeps isn't. Choose the location on purpose, because it decides where your data sits. Our page on a VPS vs your own computer goes into this.

A model. You connect a provider with an API key and billing, or with your own subscription where the provider allows it. The model affects cost and quality far more than the engine does, and good context on a mid-priced model usually beats a top model with none.

A chat app. Telegram is the usual choice because creating a bot is simple. Both engines support LINE through the official LINE Messaging API, and WhatsApp either through an unofficial WhatsApp Web bridge (quick, with some risk of account restrictions) or the official Business API (needs a Meta Business account).

Upkeep. Updates, security patches, expired tokens, the occasional breaking change, and backups of memory and conversation history. None of it is daily work, but it's the part people forget when comparing a free engine with a paid service. If you're choosing for a team, pick the engine someone on the team will keep patched in six months.

Both projects release changes monthly, so check the current docs for any detail you're about to rely on.

Common questions

Is one of them more secure?

Neither is more secure by design. Security comes down to how you configure the server, which permissions you grant the agent and whether you keep it patched. Both are open source, so anyone can review the code.

Do I need coding skills to run OpenClaw or Hermes?

You don't need to write code, because both have installers and guided setup. You do need to be comfortable in a terminal, reading documentation and fixing a configuration error. If that isn't you, a hosted service is the better route.

Which costs less to run?

They cost the same: the software is free, and you pay for a server and a model. The gap between a cheap and an expensive model is far bigger than any difference between the engines.

Does the engine change what the agent can do?

Only at the edges. Both handle memory, tools, chat apps and schedules. The differences are in the size of the ecosystem, how memory is managed and how much setup you choose to do.