head to head · open source
Hermes Agent vs openhuman
Hermes Agent has 246,492 GitHub stars, 51,615 forks, 41,784 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openhuman has 39,838 stars, 3,928 forks, 189 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hermes Agent leads on adoption by 519% (246,492 vs 39,838 stars). Hermes Agent is written in Python under MIT; openhuman is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. Hermes Agent has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, openhuman 10%. Hermes Agent was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, llm), 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
| Hermes Agent | openhuman | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 246K | ★ 40K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Hermes Agent if
- You weight community size — 246K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick openhuman if
- You want the openhuman feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and openhuman fits your workflow better
About Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent is a desktop AI agent developed by Nous Research that maintains persistent memory and self improving capabilities across sessions and platforms. It operates as a local first, cross platform interface for LLMs, integrating with multiple model providers and deployment environments without vendor lock in. The agent implements a closed learning loop where it curates its own memory, creates and refines skills from experience, and supports cross session recall via full text search and summarization.
read the full Hermes Agent overview →
About openhuman
OpenHuman is an open source, GPL 3.0 licensed agent harness written in Rust and shipped as a Tauri desktop application, aimed at individuals who want a personal AI assistant whose memory, orchestration, and research tooling run local first on their own machine.
read the full openhuman overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Hermes Agent or openhuman more popular?
Hermes Agent has 246,492 GitHub stars and openhuman has 39,838. Hermes Agent has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hermes Agent and openhuman free?
Both are open source. Hermes Agent is licensed under MIT and openhuman under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hermes Agent and openhuman?
Hermes Agent is written in Python and openhuman in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Hermes Agent or openhuman?
Choose Hermes Agent if you want the larger community (246,492 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openhuman if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.