# Hermes Agent vs QwenPaw

> Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) to QwenPaw's 62.2 (B) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.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: 2026-10-12

Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against QwenPaw's 62.2 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. QwenPaw leads on reliability. Both do assistant proactive.

- 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
- QwenPaw: grade B, 62.2/100, rank #454 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwenpaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwenpaw.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Hermes Agent (B)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 80 against 68
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 67
- Security & auth, 75 against 60
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 73
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch 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

### QwenPaw (B)

Good for: One person who wants an assistant on Chinese and Western chat apps with scheduled digests, a consumer mailbox and file-based memory, on their own machine and with a model of their choice.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 57

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Usage data is on by default, `qwenpaw init --defaults` accepts it without a prompt, and the opt-out variable is absent from the README and docs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Hermes Agent | QwenPaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 70 | QwenPaw +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 68 | Hermes Agent +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 67 | Hermes Agent +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 75 | 60 | Hermes Agent +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 73 | Hermes Agent +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 56 | Hermes Agent +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **67.9 · B** | **62.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Hermes Agent | QwenPaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Nous Research | AgentScope |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-11 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 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 | 253k stars | 36k stars |

## 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.

**QwenPaw.** Mail tools ask for approval by default, automatic mail handling may not delete permanently, and the security docs list what each sandbox backend fails to enforce. Usage data is sent by default, the default approval level passes every tool call no rule flags, and no privacy policy or security advisory is published.

## Before you call either

### Hermes Agent

1. Set `approvals.mode: manual` before giving it real accounts. The default `smart` lets an auxiliary model approve commands
2. Run the gateway with `terminal.backend: docker` or the project's Docker image when it reads mail, web pages or group chats
3. Set `memory.write_approval: true` and `skills.write_approval: true` to review what it saves about the owner
4. Leave `approvals.cron_mode` and `approvals.unattended_mode` at `deny` for scheduled and webhook runs
5. Set `TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS` or the matching allowlist per channel. Never set `GATEWAY_ALLOW_ALL_USERS=true`

### QwenPaw

1. Set `QWENPAW_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=true` before `qwenpaw init --defaults` or `qwenpaw app`. Both send usage data without asking
2. Set `approval_level` to `STRICT` or `SMART` in `agent.json`. The default `AUTO` runs every tool call no guard rule flags
3. Set `dm_policy` and `group_policy` to `allowlist` with `allow_from` on each channel. Both default to `open`
4. Set `QWENPAW_AUTH_ENABLED=true` before binding beyond 127.0.0.1. Requests from localhost skip login even then
5. Keep mail tools on `ask` for `send_message`, `delete_message` and `delete_thread`, and turn on Mail Access Control with automatic handling

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Hermes Agent or QwenPaw?

Hermes Agent scores 67.9 (B) on agent readiness against QwenPaw's 62.2 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. QwenPaw leads on reliability.

### Are Hermes Agent and QwenPaw open source?

Yes. Hermes Agent is open source (MIT). QwenPaw is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Hermes Agent or QwenPaw

- [AstrBot vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [AstrBot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [CowAgent vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [CowAgent vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [GAIA vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [GAIA vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [Grok Bot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Haven vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [Haven vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-leon.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-lindy.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Instinct vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [IronClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Leon vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Lindy vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [nanobot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [NanoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Dots vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [PicoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/picoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Poke vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [QwenPaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [QwenPaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zo-computer.md)