# Leon vs nanobot

> nanobot scores 62.4 (B) to Leon's 41 (E) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot.min.md (~480 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot.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

nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Leon's 41 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Leon leads on transparency & trust. Both do assistant proactive.

- Leon: grade E, 41/100, rank #934 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/leon.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/leon.json
- nanobot: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #446 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanobot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanobot.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

### Leon (E)

Good for: A developer who wants a self-hosted assistant with memory, computer use and a local model, and who will read the source.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 60 against 48

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where nanobot loses 6 points for them

Watch for: No tagged release of the core since 1.0.0-beta.8 on 1 May 2023. The 2.0 Developer Preview is installed by cloning the develop branch

### nanobot (B)

Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with file-based memory and a free choice of model.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 32
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 33
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 57
- Security & auth, 63 against 34
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 15

Watch for: No per-action approval was found in the docs or source. The agent sends messages, runs shell commands and edits files without asking


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Leon | nanobot | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 32 | 70 | nanobot +38 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 33 | 77 | nanobot +44 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 74 | nanobot +17 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 34 | 63 | nanobot +29 |
| 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) | 15 | 82 | nanobot +67 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 48 | Leon +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | |
| **Total** | | **41 · E** | **62.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Leon | nanobot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Louis Grenard (Leon AI) | HKUDS |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2023-05-01 | 2026-09-15 |
| 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 | 18k stars | 49k stars |

## Verdicts

**Leon.** Connected-app credentials are encrypted per profile and the Gmail connection is read-only. The 2.0 Developer Preview has no tagged release, runs tools and a 30-minute proactive pulse with no approval step, listens on every network interface with client authentication off, and sends telemetry by default.

**nanobot.** nanobot runs on the owner's machine under the MIT licence, with no telemetry found in its source and memory kept as files the owner can read and restore. No per-action approval step was found, and the shell sandbox and workspace restriction are off by default. Five security advisories were published between March and September 2026, all with fixes.

## Before you call either

### Leon

1. Clone the develop branch for 2.0. `npm install --global @leon-ai/cli` and docs.getleon.ai install and describe the legacy 1.0 betas
2. Set `client_interface.auth.enabled: true` and a `LEON_PROFILE_TOKEN` before the machine joins a shared network. The server binds 0.0.0.0
3. Set `telemetry_enabled: false` and `runtime.pulse_enabled: false` in the profile `config.yml` for an unattended or private run
4. Use `availability.tools.allowed` to limit tools. Shell, file writes, computer use and browser control are otherwise available to the agent with no approval prompt
5. Back up `LEON_CONNECTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY` from the profile `.env`. Without it the stored connections cannot be read

### nanobot

1. Set `tools.restrictToWorkspace` to true and `tools.exec.sandbox` to `bwrap` or `seatbelt` before giving it real accounts. Both are off by default
2. Run 0.3.0 or later. Earlier versions carry the published SSRF flaw in web fetch (GHSA-vc5v-6vwm-wf9m)
3. Keep `allowFrom` narrow on every channel and never set `["*"]` on Email, which has no pairing
4. Write secrets as `${VAR}` references in `~/.nanobot/config.json`. Plain values are stored in clear text
5. Use `nanobot -m "..."` for a one-shot run, and keep `nanobot gateway` running for channels, schedules and heartbeat

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Leon or nanobot?

nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Leon's 41 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Leon leads on transparency & trust.

### Are Leon and nanobot open source?

Yes. Leon is open source (MIT). nanobot is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Leon or nanobot

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