head to head · open source
OpenClaw vs wechaty
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars, 82,755 forks, 6,671 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wechaty has 23,476 stars, 2,908 forks, 198 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. OpenClaw leads on adoption by 1,577% (393,747 vs 23,476 stars). OpenClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT; wechaty is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. OpenClaw has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, wechaty 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 | wechaty | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 394K | ★ 23K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-12-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 83K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| 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 wechaty if
- You want the wechaty feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and wechaty 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 wechaty
Wechaty Ship.Fail PreAngel Elevator Pitch Wechaty is a conversational RPA SDK that simplifies the process of building chatbots. It's like a Swiss Army knife for chatbot development, providing a universal interface to various messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, and more. With Wechaty, you write your bot code once, and it runs on any of the supported platforms. This means you can focus on creating engaging conversational experiences without worrying about the underlying complexities of each platform's API. It's open source, easy to use, and backed by a vibrant community that's ready to help you bring…
read the full wechaty overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenClaw or wechaty more popular?
OpenClaw has 393,747 GitHub stars and wechaty has 23,476. OpenClaw has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenClaw and wechaty free?
Both are open source. OpenClaw is licensed under MIT and wechaty under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenClaw and wechaty?
OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and wechaty 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 wechaty?
Choose OpenClaw if you want the larger community (393,747 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose wechaty if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.