OpenClaw and Hermes you run. Cedric you hire.
Three agents that live in a chat app and do real work. Two are open source and run on hardware you own. One arrives already running, for a whole team. Checked against each project's own site on 11 September 2026.
- OpenClaw and Hermes are both MIT licensed, self-hosted and free. You install them, bring the model and keep them running.
- Cedric is the same idea, hired rather than installed. There is no setup, no model to choose and no machine to keep awake.
- The open-source two are built around one person and their own machine. Cedric is one teammate a whole team talks to, with one memory of the company.
- All three live in chat apps. OpenClaw lists 29+ channels and Hermes six; Cedric covers Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram and the browser.
- Pick by who does the upkeep. Running your own agent gives you control of every part, and the maintenance with it.
What each one actually is
OpenClaw calls itself an "Open-Source AI Assistant" and leads with "The AI that really does things". It clears the inbox, sends mail, manages the calendar and checks you in for flights, from WhatsApp, Telegram or another chat app. It runs on your machine, installed with `npm i -g openclaw`, a shell installer, or a desktop app for macOS, Windows or Linux. The site says "No subscription. No hosted tier. No token", and the OpenClaw Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit, stewards it.
Hermes is an "open-source autonomous AI agent" from Nous Research, released in February 2026 under MIT. Its line is "The AI agent that grows with you", followed by "Not a chatbot. Not a copilot." One curl command installs it on Linux, macOS or WSL2, with native Windows marked experimental. It keeps persistent memory of your projects and preferences, ships 40+ built-in skills, and writes new ones for itself as it solves problems.
Cedric is the hosted answer to the same question. You add him to your team's chat app, connect a tool or two, and he works. What he learns belongs to the workspace rather than to one laptop, so a colleague who asks next week gets the same answer. Where a job would send an email, change a record or spend money, he asks a person first.
So the three compete less on capability than on two questions: who does the running, and who the work belongs to.
Side by side
OpenClaw details from openclaw.ai and Hermes details from hermes-agent.org, both read on 11 September 2026. Open-source projects move quickly, so check the current state before quoting any of this.
| OpenClaw | Hermes | Cedric | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | An open-source assistant you host | An open-source agent you host | A teammate you hire |
| Licence and price | MIT. No subscription, no paid tier | MIT. Free forever | $19 a month, 40,000 credits |
| What you have to run | Your own machine: macOS, Windows or Linux | Your own box: Linux, macOS or WSL2 | Nothing; he is hosted |
| The model | You bring it: hosted, gateway or local | You bring it | Included; no model to pick |
| Where you talk to it | 29+ channels, including WhatsApp and iMessage | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, terminal | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram, browser |
| Who it works for | You | You | Your whole team, sharing one memory |
| Before it sends or spends | However you configure it | However you configure it | A person says yes first |
| Who keeps it running | You | You | We do |
| Getting started | Install, add a key, wire up the channels | One curl command, then connect the gateway | Add him to your chat app, connect a tool |
OpenClaw and Hermes charge nothing for the software, and model usage bills to your own account on top. Cedric's plan covers the work itself, whatever the headcount.
The same job, three ways
The brief before a 2pm call
Lena Brunner9:14 AM
@Cedric prep me for my 2pm with Meridian.
CedricAPP9:15 AM
Anna Roth, their Head of Operations, joins at 2pm, and Tomas wants a first pilot site and a start date. Since the July demo they signed the standard plan, and the HubSpot connection she asked for went live on Thursday. Ask her which site goes first, what would convince her and Marc in four weeks, and who else signs off. Keep pricing out of it: the paid agreement sits with Marc, their CFO.
In OpenClaw
It can read your calendar and inbox on your own machine and brief you from them. The brief stays with you, on the model you chose.
In Hermes
Its memory knows your projects across sessions, and it can write itself a prep skill. You run the setup and the connections.
In Cedric
He read the calendar, last call's notes, the mail thread and HubSpot, connected once for the team. Tomas gets the same brief on one yes.
The cost that is not on anyone's pricing page
Free software is free, and the honest sum has two more lines. First the model bill, since both projects charge usage to your own account at that month's rate. Then your time: installing, keeping the machine awake, rotating keys, following releases and fixing it the morning it stops answering. For one person that can be a pleasant hobby; across a team it becomes someone's job.
Cedric moves both lines onto us. One plan covers the work however many people ask, so the tenth colleague costs nothing to add. Nothing has to stay awake on your side.
That trade is the whole decision, and both answers are defensible. Owning the runtime gives you control of every part, along with the upkeep. Hiring hands the upkeep to someone else. Choose between a machine you administer and a colleague you ask.
Where each one fits
OpenClaw and Hermes are serious engineering, and their makers chose deliberately: MIT licensed, self-hosted, nothing to sell. If running your own infrastructure is the point, pick one of them.
Pick OpenClaw if you want the source in front of you and a licence that will never change on you. Pick Hermes if you want an agent that builds up its own skills over months and you are at home on Linux or WSL2.
Both are written for one person: your inbox, your calendar, your projects. When the work belongs to a company, Cedric fits, with one teammate in the team's channel and one memory everyone shares.
Running an open-source agent for your own things and Cedric for the team's is a sensible arrangement.
FAQ
The software is. Both are MIT licensed, and OpenClaw's site adds "There is no enterprise edition and no paid version." What you pay for is the model usage, billed to your own account.
Cedric runs hosted, so there is nothing to install, keep awake or upgrade. If self-hosting is a hard requirement, OpenClaw or Hermes is the right pick.
That is yours to configure, and both give you the means. Cedric works the same way on every job: a proposal with the exact action on it, held until a person answers.
OpenClaw and Hermes let you pick, including local models, which is a real plus if you want that control. Cedric includes the model, so there is nothing to benchmark and no key to manage.
It depends which tools. The open-source projects are strong on personal apps, and their communities keep adding more. Cedric's catalog reaches 3,200+ apps, and 15 of them come with a built-in playbook.
Hire him instead of hosting him.
100,000 free credits, no card. Nothing to install first.
100K credits ($50) through Slack, Teams, Discord, Telegram or WhatsApp, 50K ($25) with Google. No card needed.