head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs Risuai
OpenClaw has 390,029 GitHub stars, 81,995 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Risuai has 1,688 stars, 349 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 23,006% (390,029 vs 1,688 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Risuai is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Risuai 21%. 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.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| OpenClaw | Risuai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 390K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 82K | ⑂ 349 |
| 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 Risuai if
- You want the Risuai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Risuai 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 Risuai
Risuai is a cross platform, open source AI chat and roleplay client, written in TypeScript with Svelte and Tauri and licensed under GPL 3.0, for people who want to run character driven conversations against the language model of their choice instead of a single vendor's locked down chat window.
read the full Risuai overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Interaction & Interfaces projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Interaction & Interfaces field.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or Risuai more popular?
OpenClaw has 390,029 GitHub stars and Risuai has 1,688. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and Risuai free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw has no licence declared in this registry, and Risuai is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and Risuai?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and Risuai 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 Risuai?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (390,029 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Risuai if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.