head to head · open source
Hermes Agent vs OpenHands
Hermes Agent has 246,618 GitHub stars, 51,659 forks, 41,784 open issues and last shipped today. OpenHands has 88,352 stars, 11,607 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped today. Hermes Agent leads on adoption by 179% (246,618 vs 88,352 stars). Hermes Agent is written in Python under MIT; OpenHands is written in TypeScript under MIT. Hermes Agent has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, OpenHands 13%. Hermes Agent was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (chatgpt, llm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 247K | ★ 88K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 12K |
| 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 OpenHands if
- You want the OpenHands feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and OpenHands 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 OpenHands
OpenHands is an open source platform that provides a self hosted control center—Agent Canvas—for managing and orchestrating autonomous AI coding agents. It lives in the developer tools and AI assisted coding ecosystem, designed to turn local or remote agents into a persistent, automated engineering team. The platform supports multiple agent backends and integrates with third party services to enable scheduled or event driven automation workflows.
read the full OpenHands overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Hermes Agent or OpenHands more popular?
Hermes Agent has 246,618 GitHub stars and OpenHands has 88,352. Hermes Agent has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hermes Agent and OpenHands free?
Both are open source. Hermes Agent is licensed under MIT and OpenHands under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hermes Agent and OpenHands?
Hermes Agent is written in Python and OpenHands in TypeScript. 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 OpenHands?
Choose Hermes Agent if you want the larger community (246,618 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose OpenHands if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.