# OpenClaw vs Hermes - The biggest race in AI and nobody's explaining it properly - so I did.
**作者**: jordy
**日期**: 2026-04-23T19:34:40.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/jordymaui/status/2047398770992615781](https://x.com/jordymaui/status/2047398770992615781)
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At the start of 2026, OpenClaw did something no software project had done before. It hit 346,000 GitHub stars - overtaking React's 10-year total in under five months. It became the most-starred AI project in GitHub history. 38 million monthly visitors. 500,000 running instances worldwide.
For a few months, if you were in the AI agent space, OpenClaw was the only conversation and Anrthropic had the reign.
Then something shifted.
In March, Hermes Agent - built by Nous Research - broke into GitHub Trending. Search interest started moving. By April, Hermes had overtaken OpenClaw on Google search terms in the agent category. The project that had dominated the space for months was watching a new challenger eat its search traffic in real time.
Now everyone has an opinion. Most of those opinions are either full OpenClaw loyalty or full Hermes hype - without actually explaining what the real difference is.
So here's the honest breakdown and comparison, so everyone can understand what's actually going on beneath the noise.
And if you want to talk about this with people actually using both - people who can guide you, help you set things up, and answer the questions nobody covers in articles - come join the Discord community. It's free, growing fast, and both sides of this debate are already in there.
## So First - what are they?
OpenClaw
is a personal AI agent that runs on your own machine. It connects to your messaging channels, manages context across sessions, and executes tasks using skills. You can run any model through it - Anthropic's Claude (Opus, Sonnet), OpenAI's GPT-5.5, Kimi K2.6, Grok, and more.
It integrates with Claude Code for heavy coding tasks. Think of it as a persistent brain that lives on your hardware, knows your full setup, and can run 24/7 in the background - connected to every tool and channel you use.
Hermes Agent
is built by Nous Research. It's also a personal AI agent that runs locally - but it's built around a fundamentally different idea. Instead of you writing skills and configuring everything, Hermes learns.
Every task it completes gets distilled into reusable knowledge. Over time it gets better at your specific workflows without you telling it to. It ships with 40+ tools already built in, and it's dramatically cheaper to run than OpenClaw on the same tasks.
Both are trying to solve the same problem: give you a capable AI agent that runs on your hardware, not someone else's server. But they have completely different philosophies about how to get there.
That's what makes this debate interesting. It's not really about which one is better. It's about which philosophy fits you.
Think of it like the Windows vs Apple debate. Both do similar things. Both run on your hardware. But the people they attract are completely different. Windows pulls in developers and gamers who want control and customisation. Apple pulls in designers and entrepreneurs who want things to just work. Neither is wrong. They're designed for different people, with different priorities.
## The Ferrari vs Honda analogy
The best single description of the difference came from @garrytan:
> - @garrytan"Using OpenClaw is basically like driving your own Ferrari (that you have to be a mechanic for yourself) and it's broken down all the time, but gives you the time of your life vs driving a reliable Honda (Hermes Agent) vs riding the bus (Claude / ChatGPT)"
That's it. That's the real difference. OpenClaw gives you more power and more customisation - but you're also the mechanic. Hermes is more reliable out of the box, cheaper to run, and easier to get started with. Neither is wrong. They're built for different drivers.
## Where OpenClaw wins
Skills ecosystem
OpenClaw has the most mature skills marketplace in the space. The official ClawHub directory has over 44,000 skills - all vetted through a security review process before they go live. No malware, no scams. There are also premium curated options like LarryBrain, which has 100+ high-quality automation skills you can install in seconds. The community has been building on OpenClaw longer, and the depth shows. Hermes is catching up fast but it's not there yet.
Model flexibility
This is one of OpenClaw's biggest advantages that often gets overlooked. You're not locked into one provider. Anthropic, OpenAI, Kimi, Grok, local models via Ollama - you choose the right model for each task. Running an Opus brain for strategy, Sonnet workers for execution, GPT-5.5 for specific tasks - all in the same setup. That level of flexibility is genuinely powerful.
Channel integrations
OpenClaw connects to Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, and more. Your agent lives across your messaging channels and handles tasks across multiple platforms. Hermes has limited channel support in comparison - this is an area OpenClaw clearly leads.
Multi-agent architecture
Running multiple specialised agents simultaneously - different roles, different models, sub-agents for specific tasks - OpenClaw handles this natively. The sub-agent system is built in and mature.
Community, documentation, and backing
OpenClaw has been around longer. The community is much bigger - 38 million monthly visitors, 500,000 running instances. The documentation is more complete. And notably, steipete - the original creator - was hired by OpenAI, which has brought substantially more contributors and resources to the project. When something breaks - and it will - there are more people who've already fixed the exact problem you're hitting.
> - @Paul_Beauchemin" I have both. Hermes hasn't accomplished one thing in 3 weeks, while OpenClaw executes daily."
## Where Hermes wins
Self-improving loop
This is the genuinely exciting thing about Hermes - and the thing that makes it philosophically different from everything else. Every time it completes a task, it extracts what worked and stores it as a reusable skill. Your agent gets better at your specific workflows without you having to write anything. OpenClaw has memory and skills, but you have to build them manually. Hermes builds them itself. Over time, that compounds into something meaningful.
Token costs
The data here is hard to ignore. One founder reported going from $130 in 5 days on OpenClaw to $10 on Hermes - with better results on the same tasks. It's worth noting the cost difference depends on which models you're using on each platform - but Hermes is built with cost-efficiency as a core design principle. If your API bill has been painful, this is the main reason people switch.
Out-of-the-box setup
Hermes ships with 40+ tools already working - Notes, iMessage, browser, image generation, scheduled tasks, Obsidian integration. You install it and it works. OpenClaw gives you a blank canvas. That blank canvas is powerful - but it can take weeks before it does anything impressive. For most people, that's the barrier that stops them actually using it. Hermes removes that barrier entirely.
Isolation model
Hermes runs tasks in isolated environments. Each job is contained and separate. For anyone running sensitive workflows - client data, financial tasks, anything you'd rather keep compartmentalised - that's a meaningful security advantage.
> - @TeancumsRaiders" I spent a month on OpenClaw then overlapped for a week with Hermes. I wrestled with abandoning all the work I'd done but realised I was suffering from sunk cost fallacy and nuked it. I've never looked back and have no regrets."
## The honest comparison
OpenClaw:
- Higher setup complexity - you build it, you own it
- Higher token costs out of the box (depending on models used)
- Massive skills marketplace - 44,000+ free skills on ClawHub, plus paid options
- Self-improvement is manual - you write or download the skills
- Extensive channel integrations (Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack)
- Run any model - Anthropic, OpenAI, Kimi, Grok, local via Ollama
- Native multi-agent architecture
- Biggest community, most documentation
Hermes:
- Lower setup complexity - install and go
- ~90% cheaper token costs in real-world use
- 40+ tools built in from day one
- Self-improving loop - learns your workflows automatically
- Channel integrations limited compared to OpenClaw
- Multi-agent in development
- Growing fast - momentum is real
Still trying to decide? Come talk it through with people who are actually running both. Join the Discord - if you need help setting either up, there are people in there ready to help.
## What should YOU use?
Use OpenClaw if:
- You want maximum customisation and don't mind getting your hands dirty
- You need deep channel integrations across messaging platforms
- You want to run multiple specialised agents simultaneously
- You want full model flexibility - switching between providers for different tasks
- You're already invested in the skills ecosystem
- You enjoy building and tinkering
Use Hermes if:
- You want something that works out of the box with minimal setup
- Token costs are a concern
- You want your agent to genuinely learn your workflows over time
- You're just getting started and don't want to spend weeks configuring things
- Security and task isolation matter to you
## My personal take
They're not actually competing. Not yet.
OpenClaw is the more powerful, more customisable, more deeply integrated option. If you want an agent that lives across your channels, runs any model, and handles a complex skill setup - OpenClaw is still the answer.
Hermes is the smarter default for most people. Cheaper, faster to set up, self-improving. I can see why it's growing so fast. If you've been putting off getting an agent running because it all seemed too complex - Hermes removes most of that friction. Give it a go and decide if you want to move to OpenClaw later.
The Ferrari and the Honda. Drive both.
> - @SteveGaudio" OpenClaw, because I already built it, it works great. Hermes as an agent used to fix OpenClaw when it gets tripped up."
> - @VonDanLe" My take: OpenClaw AND Hermes rather than one vs. the other."
## Don't go just yet - Stay in the loop!
I cover OpenClaw, Hermes, and everything moving fast in the agent space every week in the WeeklyClaw newsletter. Free, no fluff, straight to the point.
Subscribe at weeklyclaw.com
And if you want to be part of the conversation - people building, switching, debugging, and figuring all of this out in real time - the Discord is free and open:
https://discord.gg/dekKpCj8
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*导出时间: 2026/4/24 10:57:20*