# Caddy vs nanobot > nanobot scores 62.4 (B) to Caddy's 16.7 (F) for proactive personal assistants. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.md (~3,350 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-13 nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Caddy's 16.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do proactive personal assistants. - Caddy: grade F, 16.7/100, rank #996 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/caddy-app.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/caddy-app.json - nanobot: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #446 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanobot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanobot.json - Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md - All 834 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Caddy (F) Good for: People who want a free assistant in iMessage or RCS that watches mail, calendars and work tools and asks before acting. Also in its favour: - No incidents deducted, where nanobot loses 6 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### nanobot (B) Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with file-based memory and a free choice of model. Ahead on: - Reliability, 70 against 10 - Schema & documentation, 77 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 74 against 0 - Security & auth, 63 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 30 - Maintenance & community, 82 against 55 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it - Open source Watch for: No per-action approval was found in the docs or source. The agent sends messages, runs shell commands and edits files without asking ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Caddy | nanobot | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 10 | 70 | nanobot +60 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 77 | nanobot +67 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 74 | nanobot +74 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 63 | nanobot +63 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | nanobot +30 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 82 | nanobot +27 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 52 | 48 | Caddy +4 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | | | **Total** | | **16.7 · F** | **62.4 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Caddy | nanobot | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Caddy Technologies Inc. | HKUDS | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | | | Auth | OAuth or key | None | | Pricing | Free | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Caddy's Terms of Service (Caddy Technologies Inc., last updated 27 April 2026). | MIT | | Read-only variant documented | yes | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | 2026-10-13 | 2026-09-15 | | Terms last updated | | no document linked | | Privacy policy last updated | | no document linked | | Customer content may train models | | | | Terms restrict automated access | | | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | | | Terms or service can change without notice | | | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | | | Popularity | none | 49k stars | ## Verdicts **Caddy.** Caddy is a free iMessage and RCS assistant in public beta that watches connected mail, calendars and work apps and asks before sending email or changing data. No outside agent can call it, and no status page, changelog or security contact was found, though its iOS app ships every week or two. **nanobot.** nanobot runs on the owner's machine under the MIT licence, with no telemetry found in its source and memory kept as files the owner can read and restore. No per-action approval step was found, and the shell sandbox and workspace restriction are off by default. Five security advisories were published between March and September 2026, all with fixes. ## Before you call either ### Caddy 1. Don't plan to call Caddy from another agent. It answers the owner's text messages, Siri and group chats it's added to. 2. Expect Caddy to ask the owner before it sends email or creates an invite. ### nanobot 1. Set `tools.restrictToWorkspace` to true and `tools.exec.sandbox` to `bwrap` or `seatbelt` before giving it real accounts. Both are off by default 2. Run 0.3.0 or later. Earlier versions carry the published SSRF flaw in web fetch (GHSA-vc5v-6vwm-wf9m) 3. Keep `allowFrom` narrow on every channel and never set `["*"]` on Email, which has no pairing 4. Write secrets as `${VAR}` references in `~/.nanobot/config.json`. Plain values are stored in clear text 5. Use `nanobot -m "..."` for a one-shot run, and keep `nanobot gateway` running for channels, schedules and heartbeat ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Caddy or nanobot? nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Caddy's 16.7 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. ### Are Caddy and nanobot open source? No open-source release is listed for Caddy. nanobot is open source (MIT). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "caddy-app", "b": "nanobot"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare caddy-app nanobot` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/caddy-app.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanobot.json ## Other comparisons with Caddy or nanobot - [asaply vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-caddy-app.md) - [asaply vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-nanobot.md) - [Asmi vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Asmi vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-nanobot.md) - [Boba vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Boba vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-nanobot.md) - [Brea vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Brea vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.md) - [Caddy vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-del.md) - [Caddy vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-hirealpha.md) - [Caddy vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Caddy vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-orbits.md) - [Caddy vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Caddy vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-szn.md) - [Caddy vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Caddy vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-zapia.md) - [Del vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-nanobot.md) - [HireAlpha vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-nanobot.md) - [nanobot vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openinstinct.md) - [nanobot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orbits.md) - [nanobot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [nanobot vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-szn.md) - [nanobot vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-tab-bot.md) - [nanobot vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-caddy-app.md) - [AstrBot vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanobot.md) - [Boski vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Boski vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-nanobot.md) - [Caddy vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-cowagent.md) - [Caddy vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [Caddy vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-gaia.md) - [Caddy vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [Caddy vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-grok-bot.md) - [Caddy vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-haven.md) - [Caddy vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [Caddy vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-instinct.md) - [Caddy vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Caddy vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-leon.md) - [Caddy vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-lindy.md) - [Caddy vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Caddy vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Caddy vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-openclaw.md) - [Caddy vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Caddy vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-poke.md) - [Caddy vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Caddy vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-town.md) - [Caddy vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Caddy vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-zo-computer.md) - [CowAgent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanobot.md) - [folk vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-nanobot.md) - [GAIA vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanobot.md) - [Gemini Spark vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanobot.md) - [Grok Bot vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanobot.md) - [Haven vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanobot.md) - [Hermes Agent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot.md) - [Instinct vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanobot.md) - [IronClaw vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.md) - [Leon vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot.md) - [Lindy vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanobot.md) - [nanobot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openai-dots.md) - [nanobot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.md) - [nanobot vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-picoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-poke.md) - [nanobot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [nanobot vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-town.md) - [nanobot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Caddy vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-natura.md) - [Caddy vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-pally.md) - [Caddy vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-tomo.md) - [Caddy vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-wajo.md) - [nanobot vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-natura.md) - [nanobot vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-pally.md) - [nanobot vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-tomo.md) - [nanobot vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-wajo.md) - [Caddy vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-talorys.md) - [nanobot vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Caddy competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.