# NanoClaw vs Orchid (slim)

> NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) to Orchid's 20.2 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md (~3,450 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-13

NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Orchid's 20.2 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistants reached by message.

- NanoClaw: B 68.3, rank #229 of 1010 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.min.md
- Orchid: F 20.2, rank #992 of 1010 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orchid-ai.min.md
- NanoClaw, good for A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine, reachable from chat apps, with container isolation and scheduled tasks, and who is willing to keep a fork. Ahead on Reliability, 78 against 50; Schema & documentation, 82 against 10; Agent ergonomics, 70 against 0; Security & auth, 74 against 0; Payments & pricing, 60 against 10; Maintenance & community, 78 against 24; Transparency & trust, 65 against 60. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card; Open source.
- Orchid, good for A founder or operator who wants Gmail and calendar triage by text with approval before anything leaves. Also No incidents deducted, where NanoClaw loses 5 points for them.

| Category | NanoClaw | Orchid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 78 | 50 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 82 | 10 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 70 | 0 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 74 | 0 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 10 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 78 | 24 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 65 | 60 |

| Fact (where they differ) | NanoClaw | Orchid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Platform |
| Vendor | NanoCo, Inc. | Zero Email, Inc. |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| Licence | MIT | Closed service under Orchid's Terms of Service (Zero Email, Inc., last updated 16 January 2026). |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | none |
| Terms last updated | no document linked |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked |  |
| Popularity | 31k stars | none |