head to head · open source
Hermes Agent vs odysseus
Hermes Agent has 246,618 GitHub stars, 51,659 forks, 41,784 open issues and last shipped yesterday. odysseus has 87,357 stars, 903 forks, 1,233 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Hermes Agent leads on adoption by 182% (246,618 vs 87,357 stars). Hermes Agent is written in Python under MIT; odysseus is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Hermes Agent has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, odysseus 1%. Hermes Agent was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Hermes Agent | odysseus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 247K | ★ 87K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 903 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Hermes Agent if
- You weight community size — 247K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick odysseus if
- You want the odysseus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and odysseus fits your workflow better
About Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent is a desktop AI agent developed by Nous Research that maintains persistent memory and self improving capabilities across sessions and platforms. It operates as a local first, cross platform interface for LLMs, integrating with multiple model providers and deployment environments without vendor lock in. The agent implements a closed learning loop where it curates its own memory, creates and refines skills from experience, and supports cross session recall via full text search and summarization.
read the full Hermes Agent overview →
About odysseus
Odysseus is a self hosted AI workspace written in Python and released under the AGPL 3.0 or later licence, built for people who want chat, agents, research, documents, email, notes, tasks, and calendar in one deployment on infrastructure they control.
read the full odysseus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Hermes Agent or odysseus more popular?
Hermes Agent has 246,618 GitHub stars and odysseus has 87,357. Hermes Agent has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hermes Agent and odysseus free?
Both are open source. Hermes Agent is licensed under MIT and odysseus under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hermes Agent and odysseus?
Hermes Agent is written in Python and odysseus in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Hermes Agent or odysseus?
Choose Hermes Agent if you want the larger community (246,618 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose odysseus if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.