openhuman vs Hermes Agent
Two of the top projects in Assistants, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
openhuman
Rust agent harness with desktop app, built-in memory and embeddable library
Hermes Agent
Terminal and chat-app agent that writes its own skills and remembers you
Verdict
openhuman ranks higher, 81 to 76. Of the 5 score parts we measure for both, openhuman leads on 3, Hermes Agent on 1 and 1 is even.
- AdoptionHermes Agent leads by 34 points, 97 to 63: a wide gap.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- Maintenanceopenhuman leads by 13 points, 94 to 81.
- Easy to runopenhuman leads by 17 points, 67 to 50: a wide gap.
- Agent-readyopenhuman leads by 70 points, 100 to 30: a wide gap.
Pick openhuman if you are
Users wanting a self-run agent app, and Rust developers embedding agents
- Embeds as a typed Rust library, no sidecar or daemon needed
- Public benchmark repo; reports 68 MB peak memory and 19.8 s median task time
Pick Hermes Agent if you are
Developers who want an always-on agent on a VPS reachable from chat apps
- Seven execution backends: local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona and Vercel Sandbox
- Built-in cron scheduler delivers results to any connected messaging platform
| What we compare | openhuman | Hermes Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 63, popular | 97, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 94, healthy | 81, healthy |
| Easy to run | 67, easy | 50, easy |
| Agent-ready | 100, ready | 30, minimal |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 42k | 253.8k |
| License | GPL-3.0 (copyleft) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Language | Rust | Python |
| Docker | Yes | Yes |
| GPU | Optional | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Mentioned | Mentioned |
openhuman
OpenHuman is a single-process Rust agent harness shipped as a desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux), a terminal app, a headless server and an embeddable Rust crate. It bundles memory recalled with citations, browser and desktop control, MCP and skills, 14 messaging channels, durable workflows, and local or BYOK models. The README reports its own benchmark on ten SWE-bench tasks and claims 500 agents fit on a $10 VPS; it is labelled early beta.
Who it is for: Users wanting a self-run agent app, and Rust developers embedding agents
Strengths
- Embeds as a typed Rust library, no sidecar or daemon needed
- Public benchmark repo; reports 68 MB peak memory and 19.8 s median task time
- Local models (Ollama, LM Studio, MLX) or BYOK across 26 providers
- Approval gate, OS-jail or Docker sandboxing, secrets stored in OS keyring
Weaknesses
- Labelled early beta; README warns of rough edges
- Benchmark is self-run on only ten tasks
- GPL-3.0 license constrains embedding in proprietary products
- 119 OAuth app integrations go through Composio, an external service
- GPU optional
- Docker + Compose
- Needs Composio (OAuth integrations), Ollama / LM Studio / MLX (optional local models), Docker (optional sandbox)
- Models: Ollama, LM Studio, MLX, OpenAI-compatible APIs, 26 BYOK providers
Hermes Agent
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.
Who it is for: Developers who want an always-on agent on a VPS reachable from chat apps
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
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