head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs eliza
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. eliza has 19,756 stars, 5,861 forks, 1,069 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 1,893% (393,747 vs 19,756 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; eliza is written in TypeScript under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, eliza 30%. OpenClaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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 | eliza | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 20K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 5.9K |
| 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 eliza if
- You want the eliza feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and eliza 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 eliza
elizaOS Your agentic operating system. Eliza · Eliza Cloud · elizaOS downloads · Documentation · App catalog elizaOS is an open source TypeScript framework and product stack for autonomous AI agents. This monorepo contains the core runtime, the Eliza app, the CLI, cloud services, native bridges, and first party plugins. The bootable Linux and Android distributions live in the separate elizaOS/os repository. Choose a starting point Run Eliza from source The repository pins Bun and Node versions in package.json . Install those versions, then: bun install also prepares submodules and patches, provisions supported…
read the full eliza overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or eliza more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and eliza has 19,756. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and eliza free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and eliza under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and eliza?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and eliza 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 eliza?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose eliza if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.