OpenClaw vs Hermes vs Grok Bot: what's actually different, and where each one runs
Two open-source harnesses you host and one closed product on xAI's cloud. Licence, where the machine is, what persists, model choice, memory, channels and price in one table, with the hosting column the popular comparisons skip.
All three give you a persistent agent with a computer that keeps its files and logins between sessions. The difference is who owns what. OpenClaw and Hermes are MIT-licensed software you run on a machine you choose (a laptop, a server, a managed pod), with any model behind them and their state in files you can read. Grok Bot is a closed product on a computer xAI runs, one per account shared by all your bots, on xAI’s models only, included with a Cursor or SuperGrok subscription. Within the open pair, OpenClaw is the multi-channel personal agent that lives in your chat apps and Hermes is the server-side working agent with a learning loop. Pick the closed one for zero setup, and one of the open two for an agent that is yours.
The table
| OpenClaw | Hermes | Grok Bot | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | MIT, open source | MIT, open source | Closed, proprietary |
| Where it runs | Any machine you choose: laptop, VPS, managed pod | Any machine; Nous also runs Hermes Cloud (preview) | xAI’s cloud only |
| Machine model | Your machine; one or many agents per Gateway | Your machine; named bots in Bot Mode | One shared computer per account for every bot |
| What persists | Everything on the disk you gave it | Everything on the disk you gave it | /workspace, browser state and sign-ins; installed packages are replaceable |
| Models | Any provider, or a ChatGPT subscription | Any provider, including local models | Grok, model unnamed, no picker |
| Memory | Markdown files plus SQLite; overnight dreaming | Files plus SQLite; self-written skills, curated | Per-bot, undisclosed, no file export |
| Where you talk to it | Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack and the rest of its channel catalog; a web dashboard | 20-plus chat platforms; a desktop app | Its own apps: macOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android |
| Software price | Free | Free | Bundled with Cursor (from $20/mo) or SuperGrok plans; weekly usage, then metered |
The hosting column is the one the popular comparisons skip
The viral version of this comparison had rows for licence, models and memory and said “self-hosted” for the open pair as if that settled where they run. It does not. “Self-hosted” spans a laptop that sleeps, a Mac mini in a cupboard, a $6 server you administer, and a managed machine someone else keeps patched. Each is a different product experience with the same software, and the choice between them is most of the decision for an open agent. Grok Bot removes the choice: the computer is xAI’s, provisioned and updated by them, and every bot on your account shares it. Their FAQ is direct: “The computer is assigned per user, not per Bot,” and their security guidance follows, “Do not use separate Bots as a security boundary.”
The persistence row is where the word “computer” gets tested
On the open pair, persistence is whatever your disk holds: the agent’s installed tools, its keys, its browser profile and its notes all survive a restart because nothing rebuilds the machine under it (unless you run it in a container and mount too little, which is a known trap). Grok Bot’s docs draw a narrower line: files in /workspace, browser state and supported sign-ins “are designed to survive normal computer updates,” while temporary directories, manually installed packages and uncommitted state are “replaceable.” Users translated that into a habit: reinstall your tooling after updates and keep everything that matters in the one folder. For an agent that accumulates competence in the tools it sets up, that is a real difference in what “its own computer” means.
OpenClaw against Hermes, briefly
They are not really competing for the same job. The longer comparison puts it as reach versus workflow: OpenClaw is a gateway into every chat app you use with a companion-shaped agent inside, strongest when the agent is meant to be present in your messaging life; Hermes is a leaner server-side agent whose signature is learning, creating skills from its own experience and pruning the ones nobody uses, strongest for repeatable work. Both run any model. Both now do multi-agent: OpenClaw with several agents on one Gateway and tools for spawning and messaging sessions, Hermes with a named roster in Bot Mode. Nous also points people at Hermes Cloud, its own hosted version, still in preview as of September 2026.
Grok Bot against both
It is the most finished version of the idea anyone has shipped, and the reasons to choose it are the reasons to choose any polished closed product: nothing to install, apps on every platform, a roster of teammates that message each other and come back for approvals, and a workflow you can teach by recording your screen. The reasons people look past it are equally concrete: the model is Grok and unnamed, the computer is shared across your bots, the state cannot be exported as files, there are no messenger channels (you talk to bots in Grok Bot’s apps), and the price is a subscription bundle rather than a line you control. The two-way comparison goes deeper on the ownership question.
How to choose
If you want teammates that appear this afternoon and you already pay for Cursor or SuperGrok, Grok Bot. If you want an agent in your chat apps that is yours to move, model and inspect, OpenClaw. If you want a working agent for repeatable server-side jobs that gets better at them, Hermes. Then, for the open two, decide where it lives, because that decides whether you become a system administrator. A laptop is fine to try. A server you run is the cheapest always-on option and the most work. Managed OpenClaw hosting is the middle path; Everpod’s version is one private machine per agent, never shared, at $29 a month with up to $10 of model usage included, and the agent still lives in your own messaging apps. Whatever you pick, read the persistence row twice. It is the one that decides what you still have in a year.