Open-source alternatives to Manus

OpenClaw leads with 85, ahead of nanobot (85) and Hermes Agent (76). Updated 12 Oct 2026 from public GitHub data.

The highest-scoring open-source projects in Assistants. They are picks, not exact replacements, so read the weaknesses before you switch. The same picks fit if you are leaving ChatGPT agent.

Try before you install: QwenPaw live demo

Open-source alternatives to Manus
Rank	Project	Score
1	OpenClawPersonal assistant gateway that answers in Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and TelegramAssistants391.8k starsMIT	85 out of 100
2	nanobotSmall Python agent runtime with bundled WebUI, TUI and chat channelsAssistants49k starsMIT	85 out of 100
3	Hermes AgentTerminal and chat-app agent that writes its own skills and remembers youAssistants253.1k starsMIT	76 out of 100
#4	ZeroClawSingle Rust binary agent runtime with 30+ channels and hardware accessAssistants33k starsApache-2.0	76 out of 100
#5	cowagentPersonal AI agent with memory, skills and chat channels like Telegram and SlackAssistants47.4k starsMIT	73 out of 100
#6	IronClawRust assistant that sandboxes every untrusted tool in WebAssemblyAssistants12.6k starsApache-2.0	71 out of 100
#7	AstrBotChatbot platform bridging LLMs to QQ, Telegram, Discord, Slack and moreAssistants41.8k starsAGPL-3.0	68 out of 100
#8	QwenPawPersonal AI agent with memory, skills, and chat-channel connectors Live demo ↗ (opens in a new tab)Assistants35.6k starsApache-2.0	67 out of 100
#9	MoltisPersistent personal agent server in one Rust binary with sandboxed executionAssistants2.9k starsMIT	61 out of 100
#10	SpacebotMulti-user agent harness for Discord, Slack and Telegram communitiesAssistants2.4k starscustom license	56 out of 100

Reviews

185

OpenClaw

Personal assistant gateway that answers in Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram

391.8k starsMITlast commit Oct 2026

OpenClaw runs a local Gateway that connects one assistant to Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp and 20+ other channels, plus native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux. Model providers and agent harnesses (Claude, Codex, local models) are swappable plugins; state, memory and credentials stay on the host. The same Gateway serves one person or a team, differing only in configuration.

Strengths

Channels for Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp and 20+ more from one Gateway
Native companion apps on macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux add voice, camera and screen
No paid tier or hosted service; stewarded by a 501(c)(3) foundation
Model providers and agent harnesses are plugins; swap Claude, Codex or local models

Weaknesses

Tools run on the host for the main session unless sandboxing is configured
Requires Node 24.16+ or 26.1+; the repo is pnpm-only, plain npm install is unsupported
Daily version check phones home by default; disable with update.checkOnStart: false

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Models: Claude, Codex, local models

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

285

nanobot

Small Python agent runtime with bundled WebUI, TUI and chat channels

49k starsMITlast commit Oct 2026

nanobot is a Python 3.11+ personal agent running as a local gateway with a bundled WebUI on 127.0.0.1:8765, a terminal UI, and connectors for Telegram, Discord, Slack, WeChat, Feishu, Teams, email, Mattermost and Linear. Tools cover files, shell, web search, MCP servers, cron automations, image generation and subagents, with long-term memory and an OpenAI-compatible API. Deploys via pip, Docker Compose or Render.

Strengths

WebUI ships inside the PyPI wheel; no separate frontend build needed
Exposes a Python SDK and an OpenAI-compatible API for integrations
Groups up to four conversations in one workbench and shares context between them
First-run WebUI binds to localhost only; not exposed to the LAN by default

Weaknesses

Channels and automations stop when local clients exit unless gateway --background is used
Native TUI wheels cover macOS 13+, glibc 2.17+ Linux and Windows x64 only
Source install requires Bun to run the terminal UI

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Models: OpenAI-compatible APIs, Anthropic, Ollama, vLLM
port 8765

Documentation ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

376

Hermes Agent

Terminal and chat-app agent that writes its own skills and remembers you

253.1k starsMITlast commit Oct 2026

Hermes Agent is a Python agent with a terminal UI and a gateway for Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and email. It creates skills from completed tasks, keeps agent-curated memory, searches past sessions with FTS5, runs cron jobs and spawns subagents; tools execute locally or in Docker, SSH, Modal, Daytona or Vercel Sandbox. Works with Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI or a custom endpoint.

Strengths

Seven execution backends: local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona and Vercel Sandbox
Built-in cron scheduler delivers results to any connected messaging platform
Imports settings, memories, skills and API keys from an existing OpenClaw install
MCP server support plus 40+ built-in tools grouped into toolsets

Weaknesses

Installer pulls Python 3.14, Node.js, npm, ripgrep and FFmpeg onto the host
No bundled browser UI; interfaces are the TUI and the messaging gateway
Web search, image generation, TTS and cloud browser steer toward the paid Nous Portal
Antivirus on Windows may quarantine the bundled uv.exe; whitelisting is documented

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Models: Nous Portal, OpenRouter, OpenAI, custom endpoint

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#476

ZeroClaw

Single Rust binary agent runtime with 30+ channels and hardware access

33k starsApache-2.0last commit Oct 2026

ZeroClaw is one Rust binary that routes messages from 30+ channels (Discord, Telegram, Matrix, email, voice, webhooks, CLI) to an agent loop backed by Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible provider, with fallback chains. Tools cover shell, browser, HTTP, MCP servers and GPIO/I2C/SPI/USB on Raspberry Pi, STM32 and ESP32. Supervised autonomy, OS sandboxes and signed tool receipts gate each action.

Strengths

Default supervised mode: medium-risk operations need approval, high-risk ones are blocked
Hardware peripherals on Raspberry Pi, STM32, Arduino and ESP32 via a Peripheral trait
HTTP/WebSocket gateway plus web dashboard for chat, memory, config and cron
Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0; installs as systemd, launchctl or Windows service

Weaknesses

Hand-written TOML config; a minimal V3 config needs four sections before it runs
README states no RAM figures and no gateway port
Unix installer places the binary under the Cargo bin directory

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Models: Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenAI Codex, Ollama, OpenAI-compatible endpoints

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#573

cowagent

Personal AI agent with memory, skills and chat channels like Telegram and Slack

47.4k starsMITlast commit Oct 2026

CowAgent is a Python agent that plans tasks, runs built-in tools (terminal, file I/O, browser, scheduler, web search) and MCP servers, and keeps a three-tier long-term memory plus a Markdown knowledge base. It connects to hosted LLM providers and also to Web, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu, DingTalk, WeChat and QQ, with a Web console on port 9899. Multi-agent teams and installable skills are included.

Strengths

Many channels: Web, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Feishu, DingTalk, WeChat, QQ
Chat, vision, image, ASR/TTS and embeddings can each use a different provider
Native MCP support over stdio, SSE and Streamable HTTP via a single mcp.json
Three-tier memory with hybrid keyword and vector retrieval

Weaknesses

Agent has access to the host OS; README advises trusted environments only
Agent mode uses substantially more tokens than plain chat
Local models only via a Custom provider, with chat as the only listed capability
Install is a curl-piped script; README documents no pinned-version install

Docker + Compose
Needs LLM provider API (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen and others)
Models: Claude, OpenAI GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen
port 9899

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#671

IronClaw

Rust assistant that sandboxes every untrusted tool in WebAssembly

12.6k starsApache-2.0last commit Sep 2026

IronClaw is a Rust take on the OpenClaw idea that runs untrusted tools in WebAssembly sandboxes with capability permissions, endpoint allowlists, host-side credential injection and leak scans. It exposes a REPL, HTTP webhooks, Telegram and Slack channels and a browser gateway with SSE/WebSocket streaming, runs cron and event routines, connects to MCP servers and keeps hybrid-search memory in PostgreSQL.

Strengths

WASM sandbox with per-tool rate, memory, CPU and time limits
Secrets encrypted with AES-256-GCM, never exposed to tool code; full audit log
Describe a tool in chat and IronClaw builds it as a WASM module
No telemetry; onboard installs a background service on macOS and Linux

Weaknesses

Requires PostgreSQL for persistence; SQLite is not an option
Installer needs a release tag chosen by hand; no latest channel
Slack and Telegram are configured only through the WebUI Extensions page
Windows has no background service; WebUI runs in the foreground via ironclaw serve

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Needs PostgreSQL
Models: OpenAI

Repository on GitHub ↗

#768

AstrBot

Chatbot platform bridging LLMs to QQ, Telegram, Discord, Slack and more

41.8k starsAGPL-3.0last commit Oct 2026

AstrBot is a Python 3.12+ chatbot platform that connects LLM providers (OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Ollama, LM Studio) to QQ, OneBot, Telegram, WeCom, Feishu, DingTalk, Slack, Discord, LINE, KOOK, Misskey and Mattermost. It adds a WebUI, web chat, MCP, skills, a knowledge base, personas and a code sandbox, and can hand conversations to Dify or Coze. Installs via uv or Docker.

Strengths

14 officially maintained messaging adapters, including QQ, Feishu, DingTalk and WeCom
1000+ plugins installable from the built-in marketplace
Agent sandbox isolates code and shell execution per session
STT and TTS providers built in: Whisper, SenseVoice, Edge TTS, GPT-SoVITS, Azure and more

Weaknesses

AGPL-3.0 license
WhatsApp adapter still marked coming soon
Docker setup is documented only in the external docs, not the README
Several model-provider links in the README are referral or affiliate links

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Models: OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Moonshot

Documentation ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#867

QwenPaw

Personal AI agent with memory, skills, and chat-channel connectors

Live demo ↗ 35.6k starsApache-2.0last commit Oct 2026

QwenPaw is a personal agent runtime installed with pip, a script, Docker, or a desktop app, with a web Console on port 8088 and a terminal UI. It keeps layered memory as Markdown via ReMe, runs skills, plugins, and MCP tools, and replies through DingTalk, Lark, WeChat, Discord, Telegram, iMessage, and QQ. Models can be local (built-in runtime, Ollama, LM Studio) or any of 14+ cloud providers.

Strengths

One instance serves DingTalk, Lark, WeChat, Discord, Telegram, iMessage, and QQ
Works with Ollama, LM Studio, a built-in local runtime, or 14+ cloud providers
Sandbox, Tool Guard, File Guard, and Skill Scanner gate commands before they run
Supports MCP, plus ACP for cross-system agent orchestration

Weaknesses

Requires Python 3.11 to below 3.14 for the pip install path
Desktop app is beta and the macOS build is not notarized
RAM and VRAM requirements are unknown; the README does not state them
Major versions shipped monthly since 2.0, so expect fast-changing behavior

GPU optional
Docker + Compose
Models: QwenPaw-Flash local models, Ollama, LM Studio, 14+ cloud providers
port 8088

Live demo ↗ Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#961

Moltis

Persistent personal agent server in one Rust binary with sandboxed execution

2.9k starsMITlast commit Sep 2026

Moltis is a single Rust binary that serves a web UI (port 13131), Telegram, Signal, Discord, Slack, Teams, Matrix, WhatsApp and Nostr from one gateway, and runs every command in a Docker, Podman or WASM sandbox. It keeps memory in SQLite with full-text and vector search, supports MCP (stdio and HTTP/SSE), ACP, cron, CalDAV and email, 8 TTS and 7 STT providers, and password, passkey and API-key auth.

Strengths

Every command runs in a Docker, Podman, Apple Container or WASM sandbox
Passkey (WebAuthn), password and API-key auth; vault encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305
Signed releases with Sigstore attestations and GPG; verifiable with gh attestation
Langfuse, OTLP and Prometheus instrumentation built in

Weaknesses

Docker deployment mounts the host Docker socket into the container
Serves HTTPS with its own certificate; browsers need TLS trust setup
Source build needs just and Node.js for Tailwind on top of Rust 1.91+
Constrained devices need a custom build with --no-default-features --features lightweight

no GPU
Docker + Compose
Needs Docker, Podman or Apple Container (sandbox)
Models: OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, local models
port 13131

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

#1056

Spacebot

Multi-user agent harness for Discord, Slack and Telegram communities

2.4k starscustom licenselast commit Sep 2026

Spacebot is a Rust agent server built for many concurrent users: channel processes hold conversations while branches think and workers execute, so replies never block on tool calls. It ships adapters for Discord, Slack, Telegram, Signal, Mattermost and email, a typed memory graph in SQLite and LanceDB, a task system with approvals, cron jobs, and model routing over any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoint.

Strengths

Per-guild, per-channel and per-DM permissions; identity anchors track users across platforms
Compaction runs in a separate worker, so long sessions never pause the conversation
Tasks created autonomously wait in pending_approval; nothing runs unapproved
Embedded SQLite and LanceDB only; no external database service

Weaknesses

Licensed FSL-1.1-ALv2 (source-available), not an OSI license
Coding tasks run only on the built-in worker or OpenCode today
Web search requires a Brave Search API key
Browser automation needs headless Chrome

no GPU
Docker
Models: OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic-compatible, Ollama, Azure OpenAI, Gemini

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗