OpenClaw vs Hermes Agent
OpenClaw (OpenClaw Foundation (nonprofit); created by Peter Steinberger) and Hermes Agent (Nous Research) side by side on public data, as of Oct 6, 2026.
OpenClaw has 89.6x the weekly package downloads of Hermes Agent (4.5M against 50.2K). OpenClaw has 1.6x the GitHub stars of Hermes Agent (391K against 251K). Over the last 30 days downloads moved +28% for OpenClaw and -40% for Hermes Agent. OpenClaw shipped 20 stable releases in the past 90 days. Hermes Agent shipped 17 stable releases in the past 90 days.
Side-by-side numbers
| Metric | OpenClaw | Hermes Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Pulse Score | 80 | 54 |
| Overall rank | #2 | #27 |
| Downloads, last 7 days | 4.5M | 50.2K |
| Downloads, 7-day change | up 34.8% | up 37.3% |
| Downloads, 30-day change | up 28.5% | down 39.8% |
| VS Code installs | — | — |
| Marketplace rating | 3.4 / 5 (62) | — |
| GitHub stars | 391K | 251K |
| Homebrew installs, 30 days | 542 | 1,542 |
| Hacker News mentions, 30 days | 215 | 25 |
| Latest stable release | 2026.9.8 · 3d ago | 2026.9.24 · 12d ago |
| Stable releases, 90 days | 20 | 17 |
| Terminal-Bench (best run) | — | — |
| Price | Free (OSS) | Free (OSS) |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| First released | November 2025 | February 2026 |
| Interfaces | Messaging apps, CLI, Desktop, Mobile | CLI, Messaging apps, Desktop |
| Models | Model-agnostic: Claude, OpenAI Codex/GPT, DeepSeek and local models via plugins | Any model: Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI and custom endpoints |
Trends
OpenClaw
Open-source personal AI assistant that runs on the user's own machine as a gateway and works through chat apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord and iMessage, with a skills system and swappable model plugins. It also ships native apps for macOS, iOS, Android and Windows.
Pricing: Free and open source (MIT) with no paid tier, hosted service or token; users pay their chosen model providers.
Latest release 2026.9.8:
- Release notes — formatted for people, with expandable sections.
- Changelog — plain Markdown for AI agents and tools.
- npm package
- registry tarball
Hermes Agent
Open-source self-improving agent from Nous Research that keeps persistent memory, creates and refines skills from experience, runs scheduled automations, and works from a terminal interface or messaging apps such as Telegram, Discord, Slack and WhatsApp. It can run locally or on Docker, SSH, Modal and Daytona backends, and has a desktop app.
Pricing: Free and open source (MIT); users pay their chosen model providers (Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI or custom endpoints).
Latest release 2026.9.24:
- hermes update (git installs), or re-run the installer one-liner.
- Docker / Hermes Cloud: images build from this tag (nousresearch/hermes-agent:v2026.9.24).