{ "data": { "a": { "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" }, "answer": "OpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.7 (B). IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "openclaw", "name": "OpenClaw", "vendor": "OpenClaw Foundation", "vendorUrl": "https://openclaw.ai", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "Open-source personal AI assistant that runs as a Gateway on the owner's own computer and answers in WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, iMessage and other chat apps, with desktop and mobile apps. The OpenClaw Foundation maintains it under the MIT licence.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json", "repo": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "openclaw" }, { "registry": "oci", "name": "ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "No OpenClaw account exists. The owner supplies model provider API keys or signs in with a ChatGPT or Claude subscription, and adds a bot token, QR pairing or OAuth grant for each channel and account. Clients reach the Gateway with a token or password (`gateway.auth.mode`), or through a trusted proxy, and paired devices hold their own tokens. Operator scopes (`operator.read`, `operator.write`, `operator.admin` and others) apply to paired clients, but a shared-secret bearer token on `POST /tools/invoke` gets full operator access whatever scopes the caller sends (https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/tools-invoke-http-api; https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/operator-scopes).", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under the MIT licence, with no paid tier, hosted service or subscription. The owner pays the model provider for usage, or nothing with a local model, plus any search, speech or media API they configure (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw; https://docs.openclaw.ai/reference/api-usage-costs).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 391800, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.openclaw.ai", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "local", "free", "foundation", "llms-txt", "docker", "typescript" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-12", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.1, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 270, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 84, "security": 74, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -8, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-09-11. The project's security page and GitHub advisory list show 722 advisories published between 31 January and 11 September 2026, 14 critical, 249 high, 390 medium and 69 low, 39 with a CVE. The largest groups are Gateway auth and scopes (182) and exec, sandbox and approvals (160). The project says all 14 critical issues are fixed and disclosed and reports no known compromise of its infrastructure. Fixed and published, which decays the deduction, but the volume and the two areas affected bear directly on an assistant that holds its owner's accounts, -8. https://openclaw.ai/security; https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories" ], "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "State, memory and credentials stay under `~/.openclaw` on the owner's machine, and the project sells no hosted service or paid tier", "Memory is plain Markdown files in the workspace, and `openclaw memory forget` removes what a named session contributed", "Four session permission modes (`read-only`, `guarded`, `workspace`, `full`), exec approvals and an optional Docker or Podman tool sandbox", "Unknown direct-message senders get a pairing code by default and are ignored until the owner approves them", "Telemetry is documented field by field. Feature statistics are opt-in and `update.checkOnStart: false` stops every automatic request", "13 stable releases in the 90 days to 12 October 2026, with npm provenance attestations on the published package" ], "weaknesses": [ "Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off", "Agents with the message tool can send across conversations and channel providers by default, with no approval step for a send", "722 advisories published between 31 January and 11 September 2026, 14 critical and 249 high, per the project's own security page", "Credentials sit in files and SQLite databases under `~/.openclaw`, protected by file permissions unless the owner configures a secret provider", "The project's own maturity scorecard rates the product at 68 per cent, labelled Alpha", "The privacy policy covers the mobile apps, the Chrome extension and website analytics, and says it does not cover the Gateway" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval", "Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default", "Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation", "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", "Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access" ], "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": 67.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 84, "security": 74, "transparency": 82 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash # or: npm install -g openclaw@latest --allow-scripts=openclaw \u0026\u0026 openclaw onboard --install-daemon" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/openclaw" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "OpenClaw Foundation", "domain": "openclaw.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The README and the `LICENSE` file name the OpenClaw Foundation, described as an independent 501(c)(3). Its site at www.openclaw.org gave no address, registration number, board or filings on the page we read.", "No terms of service were found for the software, so the MIT licence stands in.", "The privacy policy at openclaw.ai/privacy, effective 2 August 2026, covers the iOS and Android apps, the Chrome extension and website analytics, and says it does not cover the gateway, server or AI provider the owner connects. It is not linked here for that reason.", "openclaw.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 12 October 2026. The repository has a SECURITY.md with private GitHub reporting and security@openclaw.ai.", "There is no hosted endpoint. A Gateway answers on its owner's own host. The daily update check goes to telemetry.openclaw.ai.", "The domain registration date was not looked up." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "NEAR AI", "b": "OpenClaw Foundation", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT OR Apache-2.0", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "2026-10-12", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no document linked", "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": "13k stars", "b": "392k stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "OpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.7 (B). IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, IronClaw or OpenClaw?" }, { "answer": "Yes. IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). OpenClaw is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are IronClaw and OpenClaw open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 68" ], "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" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 75 against 67", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 84 against 74", "Agent ergonomics, 77 against 69", "Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 66", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 74" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "openclaw", "watchFor": "Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off" } ], "job": { "capability": "assistant.proactive", "name": "Assistant proactive" }, "others": [ { "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/astrbot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "AstrBot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw" }, { "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/cowagent-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "CowAgent vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw" }, { "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/gaia-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "GAIA vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw" }, { "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/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw" }, { "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/grok-bot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw" }, { "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/haven-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Haven vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw" }, { "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/instinct-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw" }, { "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-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" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Leon vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Lindy vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "nanobot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Dots vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 8, "edge": "openclaw", "ironclaw": 67, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "openclaw": 75, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "openclaw", "ironclaw": 74, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "openclaw": 84, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "openclaw", "ironclaw": 69, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "openclaw": 77, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "openclaw", "ironclaw": 66, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "openclaw": 74, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "ironclaw": 60, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "openclaw": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 12, "edge": "openclaw", "ironclaw": 74, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "openclaw": 86, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "ironclaw", "ironclaw": 75, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "openclaw": 68, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "OpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.7 (B). IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.", "verdicts": { "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.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.min.md" }, "markdown": "OpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.7 (B). IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.\n\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- OpenClaw: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #270 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.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### 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- Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 68\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### OpenClaw (B)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 75 against 67\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 84 against 74\n- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 69\n- Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 66\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 74\n\nWatch for: Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | IronClaw | OpenClaw | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 75 | OpenClaw +8 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 84 | OpenClaw +10 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 77 | OpenClaw +8 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 74 | OpenClaw +8 |\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) | 74 | 86 | OpenClaw +12 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 68 | IronClaw +7 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -8 | |\n| **Total** | | **66.7 · B** | **67.1 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | IronClaw | OpenClaw |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | NEAR AI | OpenClaw Foundation |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-12 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |\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 | 13k stars | 392k stars |\n\n## Verdicts\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**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.\n\n## Before you call either\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### OpenClaw\n\n1. Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval\n2. Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default\n3. Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation\n4. 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\n5. Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, IronClaw or OpenClaw?\n\nOpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 67.1 (B) and 66.7 (B). IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Are IronClaw and OpenClaw open source?\n\nYes. IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). OpenClaw is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"ironclaw\", \"b\": \"openclaw\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ironclaw openclaw`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json\n\n## Other comparisons with IronClaw or OpenClaw\n\n- [AstrBot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [AstrBot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.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 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- [Leon vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Lindy vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [nanobot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Dots vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-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": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "" } ], "description": "OpenClaw and IronClaw score within a point of each other for assistant proactive, 67.1 and 66.7 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "IronClaw B 66.7", "OpenClaw B 67.1", "scores" ], "h1": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-ironclaw-vs-openclaw.png", "path": "/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-12", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 530 }, "version": 1 }