| Rating |
|---|
| AgentsWisdom score | 63 | 61 |
|---|
| Confidence | high | medium |
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| Rank in category | No. 2 of 3 | No. 3 of 3 |
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| Pillars |
|---|
| Adoption & momentum | 98 | 71 |
|---|
| Experts (independent reviews) | 59 | 67 |
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| Crowd (community sample) | 37 | 47 |
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| Community posts sampled | 25 | 9 |
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| Experts vs crowd | Crowd cooler by 22 | Crowd cooler by 20 |
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| Adoption |
|---|
| GitHub stars | 391k | 33k |
|---|
| npm weekly downloads | 2.8M | n/e |
|---|
| PyPI monthly downloads | n/e | 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 | 31 | 3 |
|---|
| Benchmarks (shown, not scored) |
|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0 | not listed | not listed |
|---|
| SWE-bench | not listed | not listed |
|---|
| Independent reviews | 8 | 3 |
|---|
| Trust & safety |
|---|
| Overall grade | B | B |
|---|
| Permission model | C | A |
|---|
| Data access scope | B | A |
|---|
| Data storage | A | A |
|---|
| Data retention & training | n/e | n/e |
|---|
| Incident history | C | C |
|---|
| Compliance | D | D |
|---|
| Transparency | A | A |
|---|
| Price |
|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
|---|
| Plans | - Open source (self-hosted): Free
| - Open source (self-hosted): Free
|
|---|
| Product |
|---|
| Category | Personal & desktop agents | Personal & desktop agents |
|---|
| Maker | OpenClaw Foundation (created by Peter Steinberger) | ZeroClaw Labs |
|---|
| Licence | MIT | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
|---|
| Use it via | CLI, Desktop app, Web app, Mobile app, Chat apps | CLI, Chat apps, Web app |
|---|
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows | linux, macos, windows |
|---|
| Models it drives | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, local via Ollama, any OpenAI-compatible | Claude, GPT, local via Ollama / LM Studio / llama.cpp / vLLM, any OpenAI-compatible |
|---|
| Key features | - 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
| - Single static Rust binary; targets low-memory hardware such as Raspberry Pi
- 30+ channels including Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Slack, Signal, Matrix and email
- Default 'supervised' autonomy: low-risk runs, medium-risk asks, high-risk blocked
- Auto-detected OS sandbox (Landlock/Bubblewrap/Firejail, Seatbelt, AppContainer, Docker)
- Workspace-only file and shell boundaries with forbidden paths
- HMAC tool receipts and an emergency stop command
- Gateway with web dashboard for chat, memory, config and cron
- SOP engine, WebAssembly plugin host, A2A discovery, ZeroRelay/ZeroRouter (v0.8.x)
|
|---|
| Verdicts |
|---|
| Praised for | - 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
| - Small resource footprint compared with OpenClaw (independent reviews, community reports)
- Security-by-default posture: supervised autonomy, sandboxing and workspace scoping
- Some users report it as stable and easy to run on a small VPS
|
|---|
| Criticised for | - 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
| - Several users report bugs, tool-calling failures and freezes, especially with local models
- Smaller plugin/integration ecosystem than OpenClaw; Rust makes extension harder for some
- Limited visibility into running tools in early versions (HN)
- Impersonation sites and forks caused confusion; the official repo was briefly unavailable (404) in late March 2026
|
|---|
| Evidence |
|---|
| Evidence collected | 26 Sept 2026 | 26 Sept 2026 |
|---|
| Sources cited | 6 | 4 |
|---|