head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs moltis
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars, 82,735 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. moltis has 2,941 stars, 361 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 13,285% (393,664 vs 2,941 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; moltis is written in Rust under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, moltis 12%. OpenClaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (openclaw), 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 | moltis | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 361 |
| 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 moltis if
- You want the moltis feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and moltis 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 moltis
Moltis — A secure persistent personal agent server in Rust One binary — sandboxed, secure, yours. Installation • Comparison • Architecture • Security • Features • How It Works • Contributing Moltis recently hit the front page of Hacker News. Please open an issue for any friction at all. I'm focused on making Moltis excellent. Secure by design — Your keys never leave your machine. Every command runs in a sandboxed container, never on your host. Your hardware — Runs on a Mac Mini, a Raspberry Pi, or any server you own. One Rust binary, no Node.js, no npm, no runtime. Full featured — Voice, memory, cross session…
read the full moltis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or moltis more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars and moltis has 2,941. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and moltis free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and moltis under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and moltis?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and moltis in Rust. 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 moltis?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,664 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose moltis if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.