| Rating |
|---|
| AgentsWisdom score | 69 | 63 |
|---|
| Confidence | high | high |
|---|
| Rank in category | No. 1 of 3 | No. 2 of 3 |
|---|
| Pillars |
|---|
| Adoption & momentum | 79 | 98 |
|---|
| Experts (independent reviews) | 64 | 59 |
|---|
| Crowd (community sample) | 65 | 37 |
|---|
| Community posts sampled | 21 | 25 |
|---|
| Experts vs crowd | Crowd warmer by 1 | Crowd cooler by 22 |
|---|
| Adoption |
|---|
| GitHub stars | 249k | 391k |
|---|
| npm weekly downloads | n/e | 2.8M |
|---|
| PyPI monthly downloads | 139k | n/e |
|---|
| VS Code installs | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Reported users | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Reported customer organisations | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Releases, last 90 days | 18 | 31 |
|---|
| Benchmarks (shown, not scored) |
|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0 | not listed | not listed |
|---|
| SWE-bench | not listed | not listed |
|---|
| Independent reviews | 8 | 8 |
|---|
| Trust & safety |
|---|
| Overall grade | B | B |
|---|
| Permission model | B | C |
|---|
| Data access scope | B | B |
|---|
| Data storage | A | A |
|---|
| Data retention & training | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Incident history | n/e | C |
|---|
| Compliance | D | D |
|---|
| Transparency | A | A |
|---|
| Price |
|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
|---|
| Plans | - Open source (self-hosted): Free
- Hermes Cloud (hosted instances via Nous Portal): Custom
| - Open source (self-hosted): Free
|
|---|
| Product |
|---|
| Category | Personal & desktop agents | Personal & desktop agents |
|---|
| Maker | Nous Research | OpenClaw Foundation (created by Peter Steinberger) |
|---|
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
|---|
| Use it via | CLI, Desktop app, Chat apps, MCP server, API | CLI, Desktop app, Web app, Mobile app, Chat apps |
|---|
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
|---|
| Models it drives | Nous Portal models, OpenRouter, GPT, Claude (Anthropic-compatible endpoints), local via llama.cpp/vLLM/Ollama, any OpenAI-compatible | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, local via Ollama, any OpenAI-compatible |
|---|
| Key features | - Persistent memory with full-text search across past sessions
- Autonomous skill creation and refinement after complex tasks
- Messaging gateway for 20+ channels (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email, Matrix)
- Natural-language cron scheduling and subagent delegation
- Seven terminal backends: local, Docker, SSH, Modal, Daytona, Vercel Sandbox, Singularity
- Dangerous-command approval modes (smart/manual/off) plus a hardline blocklist
- Desktop app with built-in Bot Mode for multi-agent group chats (v0.21.0)
| - Local Gateway process that binds to loopback by default
- 29 messaging channels including WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, iMessage and Signal
- Persistent memory, skills and plugins, with the ClawHub skill registry
- Shell exec, file operations, browser control and cron-style scheduled tasks
- Optional Docker/Podman/OpenShell tool sandbox and exec-approval policies
- Shared cloud sessions and rebuilt browser Control UI in 2.0 (v2026.8.1)
- Can use existing ChatGPT/Claude subscriptions, API keys or local models
|
|---|
| Verdicts |
|---|
| Praised for | - Users report it is more reliable than OpenClaw across updates (Reddit comparison threads)
- Practical everyday automations such as price watching, business task tracking and homelab maintenance (HN)
- Works with local and hosted models; widely covered by large YouTube creators
| - Broad reach into everyday tools; users report automating real business workflows (HN, Reddit)
- Large, fast-moving open-source project with hundreds of contributors per release
- Highly customisable: multiple agents, per-project threads, local or hosted models
|
|---|
| Criticised for | - Setup and secure operation require technical judgment (The Rundown AI)
- Some users find the UI/UX slow or unclear, and report slow task completion versus OpenClaw
- Rapid AI-assisted development cadence with dozens of third-party CVE reports in 2026
| - Security exposure: repeated advisories, a 2026 malicious-skill campaign, and a trusted-operator default with sandboxing off
- Upgrades frequently break installs; users report hours of repair work after 2.0 and 2026.7.x updates
- Setup and maintenance are demanding for non-technical users
- Newer safety limits removed capabilities some users relied on
|
|---|
| Evidence |
|---|
| Evidence collected | 26 Sept 2026 | 26 Sept 2026 |
|---|
| Sources cited | 4 | 6 |
|---|
