# Orchid vs QwenPaw > QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) to Orchid's 20.2 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.md (~3,400 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.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: 2026-10-13 QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) on agent readiness against Orchid's 20.2 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do assistants reached by message. - Orchid: grade F, 20.2/100, rank #992 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orchid-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orchid-ai.json - QwenPaw: grade B, 62.2/100, rank #454 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwenpaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwenpaw.json - Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md - All 834 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Orchid (F) Good for: A founder or operator who wants Gmail and calendar triage by text with approval before anything leaves. Also in its favour: - No incidents deducted, where QwenPaw loses 3 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### QwenPaw (B) Good for: One person who wants an assistant on Chinese and Western chat apps with scheduled digests, a consumer mailbox and file-based memory, on their own machine and with a model of their choice. Ahead on: - Reliability, 70 against 50 - Schema & documentation, 68 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 67 against 0 - Security & auth, 60 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 10 - Maintenance & community, 73 against 24 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it - Runs on your own machine - Open source Watch for: Usage data is on by default, `qwenpaw init --defaults` accepts it without a prompt, and the opt-out variable is absent from the README and docs ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Orchid | QwenPaw | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 70 | QwenPaw +20 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 68 | QwenPaw +58 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 67 | QwenPaw +67 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 60 | QwenPaw +60 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | QwenPaw +50 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 24 | 73 | QwenPaw +49 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 56 | Orchid +4 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | | | **Total** | | **20.2 · F** | **62.2 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Orchid | QwenPaw | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Zero Email, Inc. | AgentScope | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | HTTP, stdio | | Auth | OAuth or key | None | | Pricing | Paid | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Orchid's Terms of Service (Zero Email, Inc., last updated 16 January 2026). | Apache-2.0 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | no | | Last release | none | 2026-09-11 | | 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 | none | 36k stars | ## Verdicts **Orchid.** Orchid is a paid executive assistant over iMessage, SMS and Telegram that holds drafts and calendar holds until the owner approves, with a public status page and a named subprocessor list. No outside agent can call it, there's no free tier, and its privacy policy allows training a personal model while its blog says it never trains. **QwenPaw.** Mail tools ask for approval by default, automatic mail handling may not delete permanently, and the security docs list what each sandbox backend fails to enforce. Usage data is sent by default, the default approval level passes every tool call no rule flags, and no privacy policy or security advisory is published. ## Before you call either ### Orchid 1. Don't plan to call Orchid from another agent. It answers only the owner's iMessage, SMS and Telegram threads. 2. Check status.orchid.ai before telling the owner Orchid is down. The 7 August incident moved it to a new number. 3. Tell the owner that drafts and holds wait for their approval unless they widen it. ### QwenPaw 1. Set `QWENPAW_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=true` before `qwenpaw init --defaults` or `qwenpaw app`. Both send usage data without asking 2. Set `approval_level` to `STRICT` or `SMART` in `agent.json`. The default `AUTO` runs every tool call no guard rule flags 3. Set `dm_policy` and `group_policy` to `allowlist` with `allow_from` on each channel. Both default to `open` 4. Set `QWENPAW_AUTH_ENABLED=true` before binding beyond 127.0.0.1. Requests from localhost skip login even then 5. Keep mail tools on `ask` for `send_message`, `delete_message` and `delete_thread`, and turn on Mail Access Control with automatic handling ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Orchid or QwenPaw? QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) on agent readiness against Orchid's 20.2 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. ### Are Orchid and QwenPaw open source? No open-source release is listed for Orchid. QwenPaw is open source (Apache-2.0). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "orchid-ai", "b": "qwenpaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare orchid-ai qwenpaw` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orchid-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwenpaw.json ## Other comparisons with Orchid or QwenPaw - [asaply vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [asaply vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Asmi vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Asmi vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [AstrBot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Boba vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Boba vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Boski vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Brea vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Brea vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Caddy vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [CowAgent vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Del vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Del vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [folk vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [GAIA vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Grok Bot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Haven vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Hermes Agent vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [HireAlpha vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [HireAlpha vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Instinct vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [IronClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Lindy vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [nanobot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [NanoClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Dots vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [OpenClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [OpenInstinct vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [OpenInstinct vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Orbits vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Orbits vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Orchid vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-pally.md) - [Orchid vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Orchid vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-poke.md) - [Orchid vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-szn.md) - [Orchid vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Orchid vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-tomo.md) - [Orchid vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-town.md) - [Orchid vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zapia.md) - [Orchid vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Orchid vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zo-computer.md) - [QwenPaw vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-szn.md) - [QwenPaw vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-tab-bot.md) - [QwenPaw vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Boski vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Caddy vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [CowAgent vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [folk vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [GAIA vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Gemini Spark vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Grok Bot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Haven vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Hermes Agent vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Instinct vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [IronClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Leon vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Lindy vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [nanobot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [NanoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Dots vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [OpenClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [PicoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/picoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Poke vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [QwenPaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-town.md) - [QwenPaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [QwenPaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Gemini Spark vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Leon vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Natura tinyNature vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Natura tinyNature vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Orchid vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-wajo.md) - [Pally vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pally-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [QwenPaw vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-tomo.md) - [QwenPaw vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-wajo.md) - [Orchid vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-talorys.md) - [QwenPaw vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Orchid 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.