head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs Cherry Studio
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars, 81,978 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cherry Studio has 51,923 stars, 4,976 forks, 1,514 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 651% (389,982 vs 51,923 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Cherry Studio is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Cherry Studio 10%. OpenClaw 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
| OpenClaw | Cherry Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 390K | ★ 52K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 82K | ⑂ 5.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenClaw if
- You weight community size — 390K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Cherry Studio if
- You want the Cherry Studio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Cherry Studio fits your workflow better
About OpenClaw
OpenClaw is an open source, self hosted AI assistant in the AI & Machine Learning / AI Interaction & Interfaces category that runs on hardware the user controls and meets them inside the messaging channels they already use, for individuals who want a personal assistant on a laptop and teams that want a shared deployment.
read the full OpenClaw overview →
About Cherry Studio
Cherry Studio is a cross platform desktop application for interacting with large language models, built in TypeScript under the AGPL 3.0 license. It operates in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, providing a unified interface to access cloud hosted models (OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic), web services (Claude, Poe, Perplexity), and locally hosted models via Ollama or LM Studio.
read the full Cherry Studio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or Cherry Studio more popular?
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars and Cherry Studio has 51,923. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and Cherry Studio free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw has no licence declared in this registry, and Cherry Studio is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and Cherry Studio?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and Cherry Studio 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 Cherry Studio?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (389,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Cherry Studio if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.