# Leon vs OpenClaw

> OpenClaw scores 67.1 (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-openclaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.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

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Leon's 41 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. 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
- 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
- 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.

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 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

### OpenClaw (B)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 32
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 33
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 57
- Security & auth, 74 against 34
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 15
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 60

Watch for: Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Leon | OpenClaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 32 | 75 | OpenClaw +43 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 33 | 84 | OpenClaw +51 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 77 | OpenClaw +20 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 34 | 74 | OpenClaw +40 |
| 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 | 86 | OpenClaw +71 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 68 | OpenClaw +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -8 | |
| **Total** | | **41 · E** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Leon | OpenClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Louis Grenard (Leon AI) | OpenClaw Foundation |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2023-05-01 | 2026-10-12 |
| 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 | 392k 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.

**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.

## 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

### OpenClaw

1. Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval
2. Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default
3. Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation
4. 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
5. Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access

## Questions

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

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Leon's 41 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are Leon and OpenClaw open source?

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


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Leon or OpenClaw

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