# OpenClaw vs Hermes Agent (Don’t choose WRONG!)

[Watch on tuber](https://tuber.guzus.xyz/video/jOK10k70XWE/summary) · [YouTube](https://youtu.be/jOK10k70XWE)

**Score: 69/100 · skim**

Matt's verdict is to pick **Hermes Agent** if you want a personal assistant that works quickly and gets better and cheaper the longer you use it. Pick **Open Claw** if you want a huge marketplace of ready-made skills, more AI providers to choose from and a polished web dashboard. Both can do the same basic jobs. The real difference is where each project put its design effort: Open Claw built a community catalog, while Hermes built an agent that teaches itself new skills.

- **0:02-0:38** — **Intro and promise.** Matt says he has published full setup tutorials for both tools and paid for real tokens, so he's comparing from hands-on experience. Unlike most comparisons, he won't say "use both." He'll give a direct recommendation for each type of user, with no coding or terminal knowledge needed.

- **0:39-1:49** — **The core difference.** Both are open-source AI agents that run on a server and that you chat with through Telegram, Slack or Discord. Both can read files, run scripts, browse the web, send email and schedule jobs, which is why comparisons make them sound identical.
  - **Open Claw** is built around its catalog: over 50,000 community skills as of June 2026. You browse, install, and the agent can do the task.
  - **Hermes** is built around a learning loop called the **curator**, added in version 0.12 in April 2026. When the agent solves a new problem, it saves how it did it, so it builds its own skill library from your actual usage.
  - Open Claw added a similar feature, **Skill Workshop**, in June 2026. The key difference is that Hermes learns automatically by default, while Open Claw makes you approve each new skill. Matt says this split shapes every other decision in the video.

- **1:49-2:56** — **Where Open Claw wins.**
  1. **Catalog:** ClawHub has 50,000+ skills and plugins, such as Google Workspace, web scraping, image generation and accounting, each installable with one click from the dashboard. Hermes starts with a much thinner toolbox, though it grows from your own use. Matt flags that the catalog comes with security risks, covered later.
  2. **Providers:** Open Claw supports 50+ AI providers natively, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek and local models through Ollama. Hermes's setup wizard offers a short list (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Nous Portal, Ollama), and you reach everything else through OpenRouter.
  3. **Dashboard:** Open Claw ships with a polished web interface. Hermes is command-line first, and its dashboard is an optional extra install. His framing: Open Claw feels like a tool you browse; Hermes feels like a tool you talk to.

- **3:00-4:20** — **Where Hermes wins.**
  1. **Automatic learning:** the curator runs continuously. It writes skills from the agent's work, tracks which ones get used and rewrites weak ones, all without asking you. Open Claw's Skill Workshop only proposes skills and waits for your review, and even automatic proposals are off by default. In his words, Hermes is "self-improving" and Open Claw is "self-proposing" under your supervision.
  2. **Cheaper repeat tasks:** both use the same models and the same prompt-caching discounts, so the cost of a single message is about the same. The difference shows up on repeated work. Hermes saves a skill once and reuses it cheaply, so its bill levels off sooner and with less effort from you.
  3. **Easier first day:** Hermes's defaults are simple. Pick a provider, paste your API key and you're chatting within minutes. Open Claw has more settings, which means more places to get stuck at first.

- **4:21-5:05** — **Installation.** Matt says neither is hard to install. Both have one-click hosting templates: you sign up for a VPS (virtual private server), choose the Open Claw or Hermes template and wait a few minutes. No terminal, Docker or server setup is needed. He calls the KVM 2 plan the minimum for either. The description has affiliate links with an extra 10% off, which he mentions on screen. You can also run either one on your own hardware (Mac mini, Raspberry Pi, a spare laptop, anything running Linux or macOS). He warns that this is much more technical and that running an agent on the computer you use every day carries security risks.

- **5:06-5:54** — **Cost.** There are two costs: the server and the AI model. The server cost is the same for both. Both run the same models and support prompt caching at roughly 90% on cached tokens, so the cost per message is similar. The only real gap is on repeated tasks, where Hermes saves money automatically. If your work is varied and one-off, the two cost about the same. He says either can run comfortably **under $20/month** once it's set up, if you choose the cheapest model that does the job.

- **5:55-6:36** — **Security basics.** Both agents read your files, send messages for you and log into your accounts, so security matters. On a laptop, the agent can reach your files and your local network. The simplest protection is to run it on a VPS, so if something goes wrong you wipe that virtual machine rather than your own computer. For local installs, both offer sandboxing (isolated environments): Hermes has five sandbox options, and Open Claw runs non-main sessions in Docker by default. Hostinger's templates also include Traefik for automatic HTTPS.

- **6:37-7:56** — **Security track record.** This is where the two really differ.
  - **Open Claw** had over 130 security advisories filed between February and early April 2026. The worst was a high-severity remote code execution flaw: clicking a malicious link could give an attacker access to your gateway. More than 40,000 instances were exposed at the time. It was patched quickly, but the ecosystem's reputation took a hit. A separate audit of ClawHub flagged over 1,000 skills as malicious. His advice: install only from publishers you trust and keep Open Claw updated.
  - **Hermes** had at least a dozen CVEs (publicly listed vulnerabilities) in 2026. An April audit found 4 critical and 9 high-severity issues in the default configuration, all patched in later versions. The lower count is partly because Hermes has no third-party skill marketplace.
  - **Bottom line:** both are safe enough if you keep them updated. Open Claw has the bigger ecosystem and the bigger attack surface; Hermes has less of both.

- **7:57-9:00** — **Recommendations by user type.**
  - **First-time user who wants one personal assistant on Telegram or Discord, doesn't want to spend weekends tweaking files, and wants it to get better over months:** Hermes. The curator pays off over time and the defaults are simple. He says this fits many viewers.
  - **Wants a clickable dashboard, a big skill marketplace, or fine control over providers and settings:** Open Claw, which he calls the strongest in its category for catalog and dashboard. Keep it updated and vet skill publishers.
  - **Does the same kinds of tasks every day (daily briefings, the same research, email triage) and wants them to get cheaper:** Hermes, because it saves that repeated work automatically. Open Claw's approval step is safer but slower to deliver the savings.

- **9:01-9:27** — **Wrap-up and outro.** He restates the verdict: Hermes if you want it to just work and improve with use, Open Claw for the catalog, providers and friendlier UI. The rest is outro: the 10%-off VPS affiliate links and links to his setup tutorials.

**Practical takeaways:**
1. Decide based on what you value most: a ready-made catalog plus a GUI (Open Claw) or automatic self-improvement (Hermes). The basic abilities are the same.
2. If your daily tasks repeat, Hermes's curator should lower your token costs sooner. If your work is mostly one-off, cost won't decide it, and either can run under about $20/month with a cheap model.
3. Run the agent on a VPS rather than your everyday computer, so a problem means wiping a disposable machine.
4. If you choose Open Claw, keep it updated and install ClawHub skills only from trusted publishers, given the 130+ advisories and 1,000+ flagged malicious skills.
5. If you're a beginner who wants the least setup hassle, start with Hermes's one-click template.

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