head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs Sidekick
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Sidekick has 3,321 stars, 146 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 11,756% (393,747 vs 3,321 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Sidekick is written in Swift under MIT. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Sidekick 4%. 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.
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Side by side
| OpenClaw | Sidekick | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 146 |
| 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 Sidekick if
- You want the Sidekick feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Sidekick 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 Sidekick
Sidekick Chat with a local LLM that can respond with information from your files, folders and websites on your Mac without installing any other software. All conversations happen offline, and your data stays secure. Sidekick is a local first application –– with a built in inference engine for local models, while accommodating OpenAI compatible APIs for additional model options. Sidekick supports modern GGUF local models such as Qwen3.5 out of the box through its built in llama.cpp backend. Example Use Let’s say you're collecting evidence for a History paper about interactions between Aztecs and Spanish troops…
read the full Sidekick overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or Sidekick more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and Sidekick has 3,321. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and Sidekick free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and Sidekick under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and Sidekick?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and Sidekick in Swift. 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 Sidekick?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Sidekick if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.