# Caddy vs NanoClaw > NanoClaw scores 68.3 (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-nanoclaw - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.md (~3,400 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.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 NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Caddy's 16.7 (F), and leads in every scored category. 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 - NanoClaw: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #229 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.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 NanoClaw loses 5 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### NanoClaw (B) Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine, reachable from chat apps, with container isolation and scheduled tasks, and who is willing to keep a fork. Ahead on: - Reliability, 78 against 10 - Schema & documentation, 82 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 70 against 0 - Security & auth, 74 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 30 - Maintenance & community, 78 against 55 - Transparency & trust, 65 against 52 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it - Free to start without a card - Open source Watch for: The Claude provider runs with `permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'`, so shell, file and web tools run inside the container with no prompt ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Caddy | NanoClaw | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 10 | 78 | NanoClaw +68 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 82 | NanoClaw +72 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 70 | NanoClaw +70 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 74 | NanoClaw +74 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | NanoClaw +30 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 78 | NanoClaw +23 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 52 | 65 | NanoClaw +13 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | | | **Total** | | **16.7 · F** | **68.3 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Caddy | NanoClaw | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Caddy Technologies Inc. | NanoCo, Inc. | | 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 | 2026-10-09 | | 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 | 31k 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. **NanoClaw.** Each session runs in an unprivileged Docker container and API keys stay in a credential gateway on the host, so a manipulated agent cannot read them. Inside the container the agent runs with permission prompts off, network egress is open by default, and it can message any chat it is wired to without approval. ## 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. ### NanoClaw 1. Install with `git clone` and `bash nanoclaw.sh`. There is no registry package, and setup needs Docker, Node 22 or later and a Claude or Codex credential 2. Set `NANOCLAW_EGRESS_LOCKDOWN=true` before giving an agent credentials or an audience of strangers. The default leaves egress open 3. Put chats with different audiences in separate agent groups. Every session of a group shares one read-write workspace and memory tree 4. Turn on per-request approval for a secret in the gateway when its use should wait for a person. It is off unless configured 5. On OneCLI installs, move the gateway to 1.42.0 by the upgrade guide before updating to 2026.10.0. The updater stops until that is done ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Caddy or NanoClaw? NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Caddy's 16.7 (F), and leads in every scored category. ### Are Caddy and NanoClaw open source? No open-source release is listed for Caddy. NanoClaw is open source (MIT). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanoclaw.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "caddy-app", "b": "nanoclaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare caddy-app nanoclaw` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/caddy-app.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.json ## Other comparisons with Caddy or NanoClaw - [asaply vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-caddy-app.md) - [asaply vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Asmi vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Asmi vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Boba vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Boba vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Brea vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Brea vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanoclaw.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 NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [HireAlpha vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openinstinct.md) - [NanoClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orbits.md) - [NanoClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [NanoClaw vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-szn.md) - [NanoClaw vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tab-bot.md) - [NanoClaw vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-caddy-app.md) - [AstrBot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Boski vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Boski vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-nanoclaw.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 nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.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 NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [folk vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [GAIA vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Gemini Spark vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Grok Bot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Haven vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Instinct vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Leon vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Lindy vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openai-dots.md) - [NanoClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-picoclaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-poke.md) - [NanoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-town.md) - [NanoClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-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) - [NanoClaw vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-natura.md) - [NanoClaw vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-pally.md) - [NanoClaw vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tomo.md) - [NanoClaw vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-wajo.md) - [Caddy vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-talorys.md) - [NanoClaw vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-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.