head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs row-bot
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars, 82,735 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. row-bot has 1,683 stars, 201 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 23,291% (393,664 vs 1,683 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; row-bot is written in Python under Apache-2.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, row-bot 12%. OpenClaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | row-bot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 201 |
| 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 row-bot if
- You want the row-bot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and row-bot 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 row-bot
Row Bot (formerly Thoth) Row Bot is a local first desktop AI assistant for doing real work with models, memory and tools. You talk to it in conversations; it remembers what matters in a local knowledge graph, works in the files, code folders, designs, workflows and channels you give it, delegates to focused agents, and asks before anything risky. It runs local models through Ollama, provider API keys, ChatGPT, Claude or Grok subscriptions, or any OpenAI compatible endpoint, and keeps your data on your machine. One React app serves the desktop window, browsers, phones and server mode. Features Conversations that…
read the full row-bot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or row-bot more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,664 GitHub stars and row-bot has 1,683. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and row-bot free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and row-bot under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and row-bot?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and row-bot 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 row-bot?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,664 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose row-bot if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.