# NanoClaw vs Tomo

> NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) to Tomo's 13.1 (F) for assistants that act in your accounts. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tomo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tomo.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tomo.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-tomo.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

NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Tomo's 13.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistants that act in your accounts.

- NanoClaw: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #229 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.json
- Tomo: grade F, 13.1/100, rank #989 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tomo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tomo.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 314 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### NanoClaw (B)

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 15
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 0
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 0
- Security & auth, 74 against 0
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 78 against 54
- Transparency & trust, 65 against 47

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: The Claude provider runs with `permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'`, so shell, file and web tools run inside the container with no prompt

### Tomo (F)

Good for: People who want accountability, check-ins and reminders by text, including in group chats.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where NanoClaw loses 5 points for them

Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent.


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | NanoClaw | Tomo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 15 | NanoClaw +63 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 0 | NanoClaw +82 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 0 | NanoClaw +70 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 0 | NanoClaw +74 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 10 | NanoClaw +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 54 | NanoClaw +24 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 47 | NanoClaw +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.3 · B** | **13.1 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | NanoClaw | Tomo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Platform |
| Vendor | NanoCo, Inc. | Mapo Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Closed service under Tomo's Terms of Service (Mapo Labs, Inc., last updated 24 September 2026). |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-09 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 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 | 31k stars | none |

## Verdicts

**NanoClaw.** Each session runs in an unprivileged Docker container and API keys stay in a credential gateway on the host, so a manipulated agent cannot read them. Inside the container the agent runs with permission prompts off, network egress is open by default, and it can message any chat it is wired to without approval.

**Tomo.** Tomo is a hosted personal AI over iMessage and an iOS app, centred on goals, check-ins and reminders, with regular iOS releases since April 2026. No outside agent can call it, there's no free plan, and no status page, security contact or subprocessor list was found.

## Before you call either

### NanoClaw

1. Install with `git clone` and `bash nanoclaw.sh`. There is no registry package, and setup needs Docker, Node 22 or later and a Claude or Codex credential
2. Set `NANOCLAW_EGRESS_LOCKDOWN=true` before giving an agent credentials or an audience of strangers. The default leaves egress open
3. Put chats with different audiences in separate agent groups. Every session of a group shares one read-write workspace and memory tree
4. Turn on per-request approval for a secret in the gateway when its use should wait for a person. It is off unless configured
5. On OneCLI installs, move the gateway to 1.42.0 by the upgrade guide before updating to 2026.10.0. The updater stops until that is done

### Tomo

1. Don't plan to call Tomo from another agent. It answers only the owner's iMessage, group chats it's added to and the iOS app.
2. Tell the owner that adding Tomo to a group chat applies its terms to every participant.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, NanoClaw or Tomo?

NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Tomo's 13.1 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Are NanoClaw and Tomo open source?

NanoClaw is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Tomo.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with NanoClaw or Tomo

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

## Disclosure

- Tomo competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.