head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs Leon
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Leon has 17,629 stars, 1,479 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 2,134% (393,747 vs 17,629 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Leon is written in TypeScript under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Leon 8%. OpenClaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, assistant), 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
| OpenClaw | Leon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenClaw if
- You weight community size — 394K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Leon if
- You want the Leon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Leon fits your workflow better
About OpenClaw
OpenClaw 🦞 — Your assistant, on your devices, in your chats OpenClaw is an open source AI assistant that runs on your own computer and meets you in the channels you already use: Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp, and 20+ more, plus native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux. One Gateway runs it as a personal assistant on a laptop or as a shared team deployment; configuration is the only difference. Yours, with no catch. State, memory, and credentials live on your hardware. Models and agent harnesses (Claude, Codex, local models) are plugins you can swap without changing anything…
read the full OpenClaw overview →
About Leon
Leon Your open source personal AI assistant. I share Leon progress most regularly on X / @grenlouis Follow progress on X / @grenlouis · Website · Newsletter · Roadmap · Story ⚠️ Important Notice (as of 2026 03 29) [!IMPORTANT] Leon is currently focused on the 2.0 Developer Preview on the develop branch. The new documentation is not ready yet . The current docs site and older guides mostly reflect the legacy architecture. If you want the legacy, more stable pre agentic version of Leon, use the master branch. If you want to explore or contribute to Leon's new core, develop is the right place. The most accurate…
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or Leon more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and Leon has 17,629. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and Leon free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and Leon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and Leon?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and Leon 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, OpenClaw or Leon?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Leon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.