head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs moltis
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars, 81,978 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. moltis has 2,865 stars, 347 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 13,512% (389,982 vs 2,865 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; 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 | ★ 390K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 82K | ⑂ 347 |
| 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 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 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 moltis
Moltis is a secure persistent personal agent server written in Rust and released under the MIT license. It lives in the Rust AI agent and self hosted assistant ecosystem, and it presents itself as one binary that runs on user owned hardware. The project targets a personal agent that can keep state across sessions, call language models from multiple providers, and expose its behavior through chat channels and tools without relying on a hosted service.
read the full moltis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or moltis more popular?
OpenClaw has 389,982 GitHub stars and moltis has 2,865. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and moltis free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw has no licence declared in this registry, and moltis is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
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 (389,982 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose moltis if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.