{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "hermes-agent", "name": "Hermes Agent", "vendor": "Nous Research", "vendorUrl": "https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "Open-source personal agent from Nous Research that the owner runs on a computer or server. It answers on messaging apps, keeps memory between sessions, runs scheduled jobs and connects to accounts, models and MCP servers the owner configures.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hermes-agent.json", "repo": "https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "oci", "name": "nousresearch/hermes-agent" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account of its own. Model and channel keys go in `~/.hermes/.env` or come from Bitwarden, 1Password or a command helper at start-up. Google Workspace, MCP servers and Nous Portal sign in by OAuth, with tokens stored under `~/.hermes/`. The optional API server takes a bearer key set in `API_SERVER_KEY`.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under the MIT licence. The owner pays the model provider chosen, or nothing with a local model. Nous Portal plans ($0, $20, $100 and $200 a month in credits) and Hermes Cloud hosting ($0.51 a day running on the Standard size, plus inference) are optional and sold separately.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 on Hermes Agent's own interfaces. An optional skill lets the agent pay other services over MPP, which is a client and not a way to pay for Hermes (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 253000, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/", "llmsTxt": "https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "local", "free", "no-card", "python", "docker", "llms-txt", "pre-1.0" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-11", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.9, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 244, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 3, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 84, "payments": 60, "reliability": 57, "schema": 80, "security": 75, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-08. The v0.21.6 release notes list six security fixes, among them a native sign-in flaw that could send login codes to a non-loopback redirect and a quoted display name in the `From` header that affected the email gateway's sender check. SECURITY.md counts unauthorised access to an external surface as in scope, yet the repository shows no published advisory, so owners on older versions have no advisory to act on. Fixed and described in the notes, -3. https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases/tag/v0.21.6; https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/security/advisories" ], "verdict": "Card payments always ask first and are refused in unattended sessions, and the messaging gateway denies every sender until an allowlist is set. Shell commands run on the host by default with a model judging risk, and sending mail through the Google Workspace skill is held back only by an instruction to the model.", "bestFor": "A technical owner who wants one always-on agent across chat apps with memory and scheduled jobs, on their own machine or a small server, with any model.", "strengths": [ "Every saved-card fill asks for approval, and cron, webhook and API sessions are refused because nobody can confirm", "The messaging gateway denies all senders until an allowlist or a pairing code approved on the CLI is in place", "The docs say no telemetry, usage data or analytics is collected, and conversations, memory and skills stay in `~/.hermes/`", "SECURITY.md states that in-process checks are not a boundary and names OS-level isolation as the only one", "Ten releases between 19 August and 11 October 2026, the latest v0.21.7 on 11 October" ], "weaknesses": [ "The default terminal backend runs commands on the host, and the default `smart` mode lets an auxiliary model approve commands it rates low-risk", "The Google Workspace skill requests full Gmail, Calendar and Drive scopes, and its confirm-before-sending rule is an instruction in SKILL.md, not enforced in code", "Memory writes are saved without approval by default (`memory.write_approval: false`), including from a background review after each turn", "Release v0.21.6 of 8 October 2026 lists six security fixes and the repository has no published security advisory", "15,102 open issues and more than 5,000 open pull requests on 12 October 2026", "The Nous Portal terms grant Nous a licence to train models on customer data when the Portal is the model provider" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `approvals.mode: manual` before giving it real accounts. The default `smart` lets an auxiliary model approve commands", "Run the gateway with `terminal.backend: docker` or the project's Docker image when it reads mail, web pages or group chats", "Set `memory.write_approval: true` and `skills.write_approval: true` to review what it saves about the owner", "Leave `approvals.cron_mode` and `approvals.unattended_mode` at `deny` for scheduled and webhook runs", "Set `TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS` or the matching allowlist per channel. Never set `GATEWAY_ALLOW_ALL_USERS=true`" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 84, "payments": 60, "reliability": 57, "schema": 80, "security": 75, "transparency": 73 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash # then: hermes setup", "headless": { "command": "hermes chat -q \"$TASK\" --format stream-json --max-turns 30" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/hermes-agent" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Nous Research, Inc.", "domain": "nousresearch.com", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The site footer reads Nous Research, Inc., and the Nous Portal terms name it as a Delaware corporation.", "No terms or privacy link is given. The Nous Portal terms and privacy policy (both dated 28 September 2026) govern the optional Portal and Hermes Cloud services, not the software the owner runs under the MIT licence, so the licence stands in.", "hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/.well-known/security.txt answered 404. SECURITY.md in the repository gives security@nousresearch.com and GitHub private reporting.", "No status page applies to software the owner runs. None was looked for on the Portal.", "The domain registration date was not looked up." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.json" }, "answer": "Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on reliability and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "ironclaw", "name": "IronClaw", "vendor": "NEAR AI", "vendorUrl": "https://www.ironclaw.com", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "IronClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant written in Rust by NEAR AI. The owner runs it as a local service with a web interface, Slack and Telegram channels, Google and GitHub extensions, scheduled automations and persistent memory.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json", "repo": "https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw", "license": "MIT OR Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "`ironclaw onboard` writes a bearer token to `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token` and prints a login link that carries it as a `token` query parameter. The same token authorises the web interface and the Responses API with operator rights. Multi-user deployments can add Google or GitHub single sign-on and per-user API tokens with owner, admin or member roles. Connected accounts use OAuth (Google, Slack), a Telegram pairing code, or keys held in the encrypted secret store. The web interface binds to 127.0.0.1:3000 unless `--host` is changed (https://docs.ironclaw.com/using/webui.md).", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free to self-host under MIT or Apache-2.0, with model usage billed by whichever provider the owner selects, or nothing with Ollama. NEAR AI sells hosted instances on ironclaw.com as Starter (shown as $5 beside $0 a month, 1 agent, $5 credits), Basic at $20 a month (2 agents, $20 credits) and Pro+ at $200 a month (5 agents, $200 credits). The page does not say whether a card is needed. NEAR AI Cloud inference is priced per million tokens on near.ai/pricing (checked 2026-10-12).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the release notes (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 12648, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.ironclaw.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.ironclaw.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "rust", "wasm", "telegram", "slack", "gmail", "mcp", "hosted-option", "llms-txt" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 66.7, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 288, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 67, "schema": 74, "security": 66, "transparency": 75 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-12. The ironclaw.com home page lists Discord and Signal among integrations, while the channel docs for the current release say Discord, Signal, WeChat and WeCom are not part of the 1.0 release, which shipped on 27 July 2026. The docs site also says it documents the latest stable release while its heartbeat, cron, shell and WASM pages name settings absent from the 1.4.1 source. A misleading claim, at the minimum, -2. https://www.ironclaw.com/; https://docs.ironclaw.com/channels/overview.md; https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/blob/ironclaw-v1.4.1/docs/capabilities/routines/heartbeat.mdx" ], "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach.", "strengths": [ "Dual MIT or Apache-2.0 licence, with installers for seven targets on GitHub releases and no account needed to run it", "Each extension tool declares a default permission, effects, network targets and OAuth scopes in `manifest.toml`. Gmail reads use `gmail.readonly` and sends use `gmail.send`", "Secrets are encrypted with AES-256-GCM per the README, with the master key in the OS keychain, and are injected into requests outside the sandbox", "No analytics library was found in the 1.4.1 source. Trace Commons is opt-in and has no default endpoint", "Six stable releases between 27 July and 29 September 2026, each with dated notes and upgrade steps" ], "weaknesses": [ "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", "The `main` branch has had no commit since 10 September 2026, and open reports filed since mid-September show no replies. 1,363 issues and 183 pull requests are open", "Docs pages for heartbeat, cron, shell and WASM limits name settings such as `HEARTBEAT_ENABLED` and `ALLOW_LOCAL_TOOLS` that do not appear in the 1.4.1 source", "No SECURITY.md, security.txt or published GitHub advisory was found", "The home page lists Discord and Signal integrations, while the channel docs say both are not part of the 1.0 release" ], "agentNotes": [ "Open Settings and turn off global auto-approve, or set send and delete tools to ask each time, before connecting mail or chat accounts", "Install with the release installer and run `ironclaw onboard`. 1.x does not migrate 0.29 data, so use a fresh home directory", "Call `POST /api/v1/responses` with the bearer token from `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token`. Keep under 30 requests in 60 seconds", "Resolve approval and OAuth gates in the web interface. The Responses API fails the turn instead of surfacing them", "Connect MCP servers over HTTP only. The stdio transport is rejected" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 66.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 67, "schema": 74, "security": 66, "transparency": 79 }, "provenanceScore": 71 }, "connect": { "install": "IRONCLAW_RELEASE_TAG=ironclaw-v1.4.1\ncurl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf \"https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/releases/download/${IRONCLAW_RELEASE_TAG}/ironclaw-installer.sh\" | sh\nironclaw onboard" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/ironclaw" }, "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Hosted Basic plan (2 agents, $20 credits)", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "NEAR AI Cloud, per ironclaw.com" }, { "item": "Hosted Pro+ plan (5 agents, $200 credits)", "unit": "month", "usd": 200, "note": "NEAR AI Cloud, per ironclaw.com" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Jasnah, Inc. d/b/a NEAR AI", "domain": "ironclaw.com", "domainRegistered": "2018-01-04", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://near.ai/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The NEAR AI terms of service (updated 24 September 2026) name Jasnah, Inc. d/b/a NEAR AI under Delaware law and cover NEAR AI Cloud and its API. They do not mention IronClaw or agent hosting, so no terms link is set and the MIT or Apache-2.0 licence stands in for the self-hosted software.", "The privacy policy (updated 4 September 2026) lists ironclaw.com, agent.near.ai, the IronClaw framework and IronHub among what it covers.", "The ironclaw.com home page says Built by Near Foundation and its footer says by NEAR AI.", "security.txt answered 404 on www.ironclaw.com, docs.ironclaw.com and near.ai.", "RDAP for ironclaw.com gives a registration date of 2018-01-04 and Cloudflare, Inc. as registrar, last changed 2026-04-20.", "A self-hosted instance answers on its owner's own host. Hosted instances answer at \u003cinstance-id\u003e.agents.near.ai per the quickstart." ], "score": 71 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Nous Research", "b": "NEAR AI", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "MIT OR Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-11", "b": "2026-09-29", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "253k stars", "b": "13k stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on reliability and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Hermes Agent or IronClaw?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Hermes Agent is open source (MIT). IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0).", "question": "Are Hermes Agent and IronClaw open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 74", "Agent ergonomics, 80 against 69", "Security \u0026 auth, 75 against 66", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 84 against 74" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "A technical owner who wants one always-on agent across chat apps with memory and scheduled jobs, on their own machine or a small server, with any model.", "slug": "hermes-agent", "watchFor": "The default terminal backend runs commands on the host, and the default `smart` mode lets an auxiliary model approve commands it rates low-risk" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 67 against 57", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 63" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach.", "slug": "ironclaw", "watchFor": "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" } ], "job": { "capability": "assistant.proactive", "name": "Assistant proactive" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "AstrBot vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "AstrBot vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "CowAgent vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "CowAgent vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "GAIA vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "GAIA vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-hermes-agent.json", "title": "Haven vs Hermes Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-hermes-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Haven vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-leon.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Leon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-leon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-lindy.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Lindy", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-lindy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs nanobot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openai-dots.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Dots", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openai-dots" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zo-computer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Leon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Lindy", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.json", "title": "IronClaw vs nanobot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Dots", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 10, "edge": "ironclaw", "hermes-agent": 57, "ironclaw": 67, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "hermes-agent", "hermes-agent": 80, "ironclaw": 74, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 11, "edge": "hermes-agent", "hermes-agent": 80, "ironclaw": 69, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 9, "edge": "hermes-agent", "hermes-agent": 75, "ironclaw": 66, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "hermes-agent": 60, "ironclaw": 60, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "hermes-agent", "hermes-agent": 84, "ironclaw": 74, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 12, "edge": "ironclaw", "hermes-agent": 63, "ironclaw": 75, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on reliability and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.", "verdicts": { "hermes-agent": "Card payments always ask first and are refused in unattended sessions, and the messaging gateway denies every sender until an allowlist is set. Shell commands run on the host by default with a model judging risk, and sending mail through the Google Workspace skill is held back only by an instruction to the model.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.min.md" }, "markdown": "Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on reliability and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.\n\n- Hermes Agent: grade B, 67.9/100, rank #244 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hermes-agent.json\n- IronClaw: grade B, 66.7/100, rank #288 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json\n- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md\n- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Hermes Agent (B)\n\nGood for: A technical owner who wants one always-on agent across chat apps with memory and scheduled jobs, on their own machine or a small server, with any model.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 80 against 74\n- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 69\n- Security \u0026 auth, 75 against 66\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 84 against 74\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: The default terminal backend runs commands on the host, and the default `smart` mode lets an auxiliary model approve commands it rates low-risk\n\n### IronClaw (B)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 67 against 57\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 63\n\nWatch 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\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Hermes Agent | IronClaw | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 67 | IronClaw +10 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 74 | Hermes Agent +6 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 69 | Hermes Agent +11 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 66 | Hermes Agent +9 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 74 | Hermes Agent +10 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 75 | IronClaw +12 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -2 | |\n| **Total** | | **67.9 · B** | **66.7 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Hermes Agent | IronClaw |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Nous Research | NEAR AI |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | HTTP |\n| Auth | None | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Free | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-11 | 2026-09-29 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 253k stars | 13k stars |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Hermes Agent.** Card payments always ask first and are refused in unattended sessions, and the messaging gateway denies every sender until an allowlist is set. Shell commands run on the host by default with a model judging risk, and sending mail through the Google Workspace skill is held back only by an instruction to the model.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Hermes Agent\n\n1. Set `approvals.mode: manual` before giving it real accounts. The default `smart` lets an auxiliary model approve commands\n2. Run the gateway with `terminal.backend: docker` or the project's Docker image when it reads mail, web pages or group chats\n3. Set `memory.write_approval: true` and `skills.write_approval: true` to review what it saves about the owner\n4. Leave `approvals.cron_mode` and `approvals.unattended_mode` at `deny` for scheduled and webhook runs\n5. Set `TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS` or the matching allowlist per channel. Never set `GATEWAY_ALLOW_ALL_USERS=true`\n\n### IronClaw\n\n1. Open Settings and turn off global auto-approve, or set send and delete tools to ask each time, before connecting mail or chat accounts\n2. Install with the release installer and run `ironclaw onboard`. 1.x does not migrate 0.29 data, so use a fresh home directory\n3. Call `POST /api/v1/responses` with the bearer token from `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token`. Keep under 30 requests in 60 seconds\n4. Resolve approval and OAuth gates in the web interface. The Responses API fails the turn instead of surfacing them\n5. Connect MCP servers over HTTP only. The stdio transport is rejected\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Hermes Agent or IronClaw?\n\nHermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on reliability and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Are Hermes Agent and IronClaw open source?\n\nYes. Hermes Agent is open source (MIT). IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"hermes-agent\", \"b\": \"ironclaw\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare hermes-agent ironclaw`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hermes-agent.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Hermes Agent or IronClaw\n\n- [AstrBot vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [AstrBot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [CowAgent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [GAIA vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-hermes-agent.md)\n- [Haven vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-leon.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-lindy.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openai-dots.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zo-computer.md)\n- [Instinct vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy.md)\n- [IronClaw vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.md)\n- [IronClaw vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.md)\n- [IronClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.md)\n- [IronClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-12", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Hermes Agent vs IronClaw", "url": "" } ], "description": "Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) to IronClaw's 66.7 (B) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Hermes Agent B 67.9", "IronClaw B 66.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Hermes Agent vs IronClaw", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.png", "path": "/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Hermes Agent vs IronClaw for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-12", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2600, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }