# OpenClaw vs OpenDuet

> OpenClaw scores 67.4 (B) to OpenDuet's 49.5 (D) for proactive personal assistants. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-openduet
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-openduet.md (~3,950 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-openduet.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-openduet.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

OpenClaw scores 67.4 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDuet's 49.5 (D), and leads in every scored category. Both do proactive personal assistants.

- OpenClaw: grade B, 67.4/100, rank #288 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json
- OpenDuet: grade D, 49.5/100, rank #962 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openduet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openduet.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 1196 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### 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 42
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 58
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 52
- Security & auth, 74 against 59
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 37

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

### OpenDuet (D)

Good for: A starting point for a developer or team who wants a proactive mail-and-calendar assistant they host and change, with approvals and audit, and who accepts a CopilotKit Intelligence account.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 points for them

Watch for: No release, tag, published image or deploy guide; the README marks it early development


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenClaw | OpenDuet | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 42 | OpenClaw +33 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 58 | OpenClaw +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 52 | OpenClaw +25 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 59 | OpenClaw +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | OpenClaw +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 37 | OpenClaw +49 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 68 | OpenClaw +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67.4 · B** | **49.5 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenClaw | OpenDuet |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | OpenClaw Foundation | CopilotKit (Tawkit, Inc.) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT. Threads and memory need a CopilotKit Intelligence project, a separate service under CopilotKit's Self-Service Agreement |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-12 | none |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-08-27 |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 392k stars | 1.6k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**OpenDuet.** Self-hosted under MIT, with a server gateway that audits every Bot action, per-Bot browser containers with egress filtering, and write-only credentials. Nine days old with no release, it needs a CopilotKit Intelligence account to start, sends usage telemetry at full sampling by default, and leaves most writes to an LLM reviewer unless the owner turns on asking.

## Before you call either

### 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

### OpenDuet

1. Follow the README's Quick start (`bun install`, `bash scripts/start.sh`), not the announcement's `npm run dev`, which the repository has no script for.
2. Run `bun openbot/scripts/setup-learning.ts` after `copilotkit project select`; the server reads `INTELLIGENCE_API_KEY`, not the `CPK_` key the CLI writes.
3. Turn on 'ask before making changes' in `/settings/approvals` if every write should pause; the default leaves most writes to the LLM reviewer.
4. To bring your own agent, register it as a `remote-ag-ui` Bot in `agents.yaml`; its tool calls still pass through the gateway's policy and audit.
5. Set `COPILOTKIT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=true` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before starting if usage events must not reach CopilotKit.

## Questions

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

OpenClaw scores 67.4 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDuet's 49.5 (D), and leads in every scored category.

### Are OpenClaw and OpenDuet open source?

Yes. OpenClaw is open source (MIT). OpenDuet is open source (MIT. Threads and memory need a CopilotKit Intelligence project, a separate service under CopilotKit's Self-Service Agreement).


## For agents

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

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