Hermes vs OpenClaw: Which Self-Hosted Agent Should You Run?

Hermes Agent and OpenClaw are the two most-starred open-source personal agents we track, and they’re closer than most “vs” pairs. Both are MIT licensed, free, model-agnostic, run on your own hardware, and live in your chat apps. Neither sandboxes commands by default. The differences are in defaults, reach and philosophy.

The short version

Run OpenClaw if you want the widest reach: native apps on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, 29 chat channels, 142 official plugins and a one-click cloud deploy.

Run Hermes Agent if you care more about what the agent does over time and what it sends home: it writes and refines its own skills, runs separate agent profiles on one server, and shares no metrics unless you opt in.

If you’re already on OpenClaw, trying Hermes costs little, because it imports OpenClaw settings, memories and skills in one command.

Maturity and momentum

OpenClaw came first, released November 24, 2025, and had 394,193 GitHub stars when we checked on November 8, 2026. It’s now stewarded by the nonprofit OpenClaw Foundation. Hermes Agent launched February 25, 2026 from Nous Research and reached 261,682 stars by the same date. OpenClaw is TypeScript on Node; Hermes is Python.

Telemetry

This is the clearest difference. OpenClaw contacts its project server daily by default, sending your version, OS, Node.js version and CPU architecture, an identifier-free install count and update reports; the server also records approximate location. Feature statistics are opt-in, and update.checkOnStart: false turns the rest off.

Hermes Agent’s shared metrics are off by default and only sent if you choose to share them when asked. Its update check compares against the GitHub repository. Nous Research only sees your conversations if you pick its Nous Portal as your model provider.

Sandboxing

A tie, and not a good one. OpenClaw’s sandbox is off by default and the agent can run host commands unless you turn on approvals. Hermes Agent’s terminal backend defaults to local, with approval modes and container isolation as options.

Whichever you pick, turn isolation on before you connect your email. Or run either one inside NemoClaw, NVIDIA’s sandbox stack, which supports both. Our Is OpenClaw safe? guide covers the risks.

Apps and install

OpenClaw installs with a script, npm, desktop apps, Docker or a one-click Railway deploy. It needs Node 24.16+ or 26.1+, which the installer provisions if missing. It has native iOS and Android apps.

Hermes Agent installs with a script, desktop apps for macOS (Apple Silicon only) and Windows, or Docker. Linux has no desktop package, and Android is a command-line install through Termux. There’s no iOS app, so on your phone you use a chat app.

Channels

Both cover Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack and iMessage. OpenClaw lists 29 channels, including Microsoft Teams. Hermes lists 20+, including Signal, email and SMS, but iMessage needs a separate BlueBubbles server on a Mac.

Skills, memory and multiple agents

OpenClaw relies on a large ecosystem: community skills plus 142 official plugins. The flip side is that malicious third-party skills are a known risk.

Hermes takes the opposite approach. After complex tasks it writes reusable skills itself and refines them as it uses them, keeps a curated memory and builds a profile of you across sessions. Its profiles run several agents, each with its own model, memory and skills, and they can talk in group chats. OpenClaw has multi-agent routing too, but self-improvement is Hermes’ headline.

Cost

Both are free, and you pay your model provider either way. Heavy OpenClaw users have reported spending over $100 a day with expensive models. Hermes offers an optional Nous Portal subscription bundling models and hosted tools like web search and image generation; without it, those tools need your own keys. Both run local models.

Verdict

• Pick OpenClaw if you want phone apps, 29 channels and 142 official plugins, a Linux desktop app, or a one-click cloud install, and you’ll switch off the update check yourself.
• Pick Hermes Agent if you run a server, want no telemetry out of the box, use Signal or email as your main channel, or want an agent that builds its own skills.
• Pick neither as-is if you won’t configure a sandbox. Look at ZeroClaw or the other OpenClaw alternatives and Hermes Agent alternatives that isolate commands by default.