# Claude Duet vs OpenClaw

> OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) to Claude Duet's 17.9 (F) for proactive personal assistants. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.md (~4,000 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-25

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Claude Duet's 17.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do proactive personal assistants.

- Claude Duet: grade F, 17.9/100, rank #1162 of 1210. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-duet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-duet.json
- OpenClaw: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #288 of 1210. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 1051 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Claude Duet (F)

Good for: A US Pro or Max subscriber who runs work or a small business through connected apps such as Gmail, Google Calendar, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto and HubSpot and wants a morning brief and approved actions.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 points for them

Watch for: No API, MCP server, A2A endpoint or connector lets an outside agent send Duet a task or read its results

### OpenClaw (B)

Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with their choice of model and files they can read and delete.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 15
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 10
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 0
- Security & auth, 74 against 14
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 37

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Claude Duet | OpenClaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 15 | 75 | OpenClaw +60 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 84 | OpenClaw +74 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 77 | OpenClaw +77 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 14 | 74 | OpenClaw +60 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | OpenClaw +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 37 | 86 | OpenClaw +49 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 68 | Claude Duet +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -8 | |
| **Total** | | **17.9 · F** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Claude Duet | OpenClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Platform | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Anthropic, PBC | OpenClaw Foundation |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed service. No Claude Duet terms were found. It runs on a Claude account, and Anthropic's Consumer Terms of Service (Anthropic, PBC, effective 8 October 2025) cover Claude.ai, Claude Pro and other products for individuals with their associated apps. | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-24 | 2026-10-12 |
| Terms last updated |  | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | none | 392k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Claude Duet.** Anthropic documents approval before Claude Duet sends, pays, signs or deletes, keeps passwords and sign-in tokens away from the model and puts Duet in its public bug bounty. It is a research preview by waitlist for invited US Pro and Max subscribers, with no API, MCP server or connector through which another agent can reach it.

**OpenClaw.** Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with state, memory and credentials kept on the owner's machine and no paid tier. A fresh install runs tools on the host with full access, no approval prompt and no sandbox, and the project has published 722 security advisories since January 2026, 14 of them critical.

## Before you call either

### Claude Duet

1. Don't plan an integration against Claude Duet. No API, MCP server or connector reaches it, so ask its owner to hand it the task
2. Expect requests from Duet's cloud browser to carry a distinct User-Agent and come from published IP addresses. The string and the list weren't found on the pages read
3. Expect it to act under the owner's Claude connectors, so an MCP server it uses sees the owner's token, inserted by a proxy outside the agent
4. Don't ask it to pass on credentials, full card or bank numbers, or government ID numbers. Its classifier blocks them even when the owner asks
5. Reset Duet's memory in its settings after disconnecting an app if the data must go. Disconnecting stops new access only

### OpenClaw

1. Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval
2. Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default
3. Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation
4. Route incoming mail to a restricted reader agent, as the IMAP and Gmail guides show, and deny `gateway`, `cron`, `sessions_spawn` and `sessions_send` for it
5. Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Claude Duet or OpenClaw?

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Claude Duet's 17.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Claude Duet and OpenClaw open source?

No open-source release is listed for Claude Duet. OpenClaw is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "claude-duet", "b": "openclaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare claude-duet openclaw`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-duet.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json

## Other comparisons with Claude Duet or OpenClaw

- [asaply vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Asmi vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Boba vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Brea vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Del vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-openclaw.md)
- [HireAlpha vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-openclaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-openinstinct.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-orbits.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [OpenClaw vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-szn.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-tab-bot.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zapia.md)
- [AstrBot vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-claude-duet.md)
- [AstrBot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Boski vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-claude-duet.md)
- [Boski vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Caddy vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-claude-duet.md)
- [Caddy vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Claude Duet vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.md)
- [Claude Duet vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-folk-nozomio.md)
- [Claude Duet vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-gaia.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-gemini-spark.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-grok-bot.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-haven.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-instinct.md)
- [Claude Duet vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-ironclaw.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-leon.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-lindy.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-lobby-os.md)
- [Claude Duet vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-nanobot.md)
- [Claude Duet vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-nanoclaw.md)
- [Claude Duet vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openai-dots.md)
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- [OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
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- [Claude Duet vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-wajo.md)
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- [OpenClaw vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-wajo.md)
- [Asmi vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-claude-duet.md)
- [Atticus vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atticus-vs-claude-duet.md)
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- [OpenClaw vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-talorys.md)

## Disclosure

- Claude Duet competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds, and Anthropic makes the models this research run and the review panel run on. 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. All three run on Claude, and every review of it carries a conflict label.

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