# Del vs IronClaw > IronClaw scores 66.7 (B) to Del's 20.6 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw.md (~3,300 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw.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 IronClaw scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against Del's 20.6 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistants reached by message. - Del: grade F, 20.6/100, rank #991 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/del.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/del.json - IronClaw: grade B, 66.7/100, rank #288 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.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 ### Del (F) Good for: People who want tasks, notes, reminders and Gmail handled by text on the channel they already use. Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### IronClaw (B) Good for: One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach. Ahead on: - Reliability, 67 against 25 - Schema & documentation, 74 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 69 against 0 - Security & auth, 66 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 30 - Maintenance & community, 74 against 60 - Transparency & trust, 75 against 57 Also in its favour: - Open source Watch for: Global auto-approve defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask (send, trash, delete) run without a prompt. Only financial, approval and budget effects always ask ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Del | IronClaw | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 25 | 67 | IronClaw +42 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 74 | IronClaw +64 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 69 | IronClaw +69 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 66 | IronClaw +66 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | IronClaw +30 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 74 | IronClaw +14 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 75 | IronClaw +18 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | | | **Total** | | **20.6 · F** | **66.7 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Del | IronClaw | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Human Interface, Inc. | NEAR AI | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | HTTP | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Paid | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Del's Terms of Service (Human Interface, Inc., a Delaware corporation, last updated 5 August 2026). | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-29 | | Terms last updated | | no document linked | | Privacy policy last updated | | no date given | | 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 | 13k stars | ## Verdicts **Del.** Del is a hosted texting assistant and task workspace across iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, Discord and Slack, with a near-daily public changelog and a card-free 14-day trial. No outside agent can call it, no status page or security contact was found, and recent updates let some email actions skip approval. **IronClaw.** Credentials stay in an encrypted store and are injected at the host boundary, and extensions declare per-tool permissions, network targets and OAuth scopes. The global auto-approve setting defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask, such as `gmail.send_message`, run unprompted until the owner turns it off. ## Before you call either ### Del 1. Don't plan to call Del from another agent. It answers only the owner's messaging threads and web workspace. 2. Tell the owner web browsing tasks are limited to five a month on Standard and unlimited on Pro. ### IronClaw 1. Open Settings and turn off global auto-approve, or set send and delete tools to ask each time, before connecting mail or chat accounts 2. Install with the release installer and run `ironclaw onboard`. 1.x does not migrate 0.29 data, so use a fresh home directory 3. Call `POST /api/v1/responses` with the bearer token from `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token`. Keep under 30 requests in 60 seconds 4. Resolve approval and OAuth gates in the web interface. The Responses API fails the turn instead of surfacing them 5. Connect MCP servers over HTTP only. The stdio transport is rejected ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Del or IronClaw? IronClaw scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against Del's 20.6 (F), and leads in every scored category. ### Are Del and IronClaw open source? No open-source release is listed for Del. IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-ironclaw.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "del", "b": "ironclaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare del ironclaw` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/del.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json ## Other comparisons with Del or IronClaw - [asaply vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-del.md) - [asaply vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Asmi vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-del.md) - [Asmi vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-ironclaw.md) - [AstrBot vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-del.md) - [Boba vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-del.md) - [Boba vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Boski vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-del.md) - [Brea vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-del.md) - [Brea vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Caddy vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-del.md) - [CowAgent vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-del.md) - [Del vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [Del vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-gaia.md) - [Del vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-grok-bot.md) - [Del vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-haven.md) - [Del vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [Del vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-hirealpha.md) - [Del vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-instinct.md) - [Del vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-lindy.md) - [Del vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-nanobot.md) - [Del vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Del vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-natura.md) - [Del vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Del vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-openclaw.md) - [Del vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Del vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-orbits.md) - [Del vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Del vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-pally.md) - [Del vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Del vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-poke.md) - [Del vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Del vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-szn.md) - [Del vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Del vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-tomo.md) - [Del vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-town.md) - [Del vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-zapia.md) - [Del vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Del vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-zo-computer.md) - [HireAlpha vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-ironclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openinstinct.md) - [IronClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-orbits.md) - [IronClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [IronClaw vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-szn.md) - [IronClaw vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-tab-bot.md) - [IronClaw vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Boski vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Caddy vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-ironclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.md) - [folk vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-ironclaw.md) - [GAIA vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Gemini Spark vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Grok Bot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Haven vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Hermes Agent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Instinct vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon.md) - [IronClaw vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy.md) - [IronClaw vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.md) - [IronClaw vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.md) - [IronClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.md) - [IronClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [IronClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-town.md) - [IronClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [IronClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Del vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [Del vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-leon.md) - [Del vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-wajo.md) - [IronClaw vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-natura.md) - [IronClaw vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-pally.md) - [IronClaw vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-tomo.md) - [IronClaw vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-wajo.md) - [Del vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-talorys.md) - [IronClaw vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Del 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.