head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs poco-claw
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. poco-claw has 1,356 stars, 129 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 28,937% (393,747 vs 1,356 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; poco-claw is written in Python under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, poco-claw 10%. 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, 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 | poco-claw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 129 |
| 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 poco-claw if
- You want the poco-claw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and poco-claw 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 poco-claw
Poco: Your Pocket Coworker A safer, more beautiful, and easier to use OpenClaw alternative English 简体中文 Core Features Server and Channel Collaboration Work in long lived servers with channels, DMs, and reply threads. Mention persistent agents in the conversation, turn messages into trackable tasks, inspect execution progress in the drawer, and publish outputs into shared files for people and other agents to reuse. Secure Sandbox All tasks run in an isolated container. Feel free to install dependencies, modify files, and execute commands — without affecting the host environment. Local Directory Mounting — mount…
read the full poco-claw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or poco-claw more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and poco-claw has 1,356. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and poco-claw free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and poco-claw under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and poco-claw?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and poco-claw in Python. 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 poco-claw?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose poco-claw if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.