head to head · open source
pi vs NanoClaw
pi has 119,586 GitHub stars, 15,353 forks, 202 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NanoClaw has 31,073 stars, 12,681 forks, 1,102 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pi leads on adoption by 285% (119,586 vs 31,073 stars). pi is written in TypeScript under MIT; NanoClaw is written in TypeScript under MIT. pi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, NanoClaw 41%. pi 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
| pi | NanoClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 31K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 13K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pi if
- You weight community size — 120K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick NanoClaw if
- You want the NanoClaw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and NanoClaw fits your workflow better
About pi
New issues and PRs from new contributors are auto closed by default. Maintainers review auto closed issues daily. See CONTRIBUTING.md. Pi Agent Harness This is the home of the Pi agent harness project including our self extensible coding agent. @earendil works/pi coding agent : Interactive coding agent CLI @earendil works/pi agent core : Agent runtime with tool calling and state management @earendil works/pi ai : Unified multi provider LLM API (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, …) To learn more about Pi: Visit pi.dev, the project website with demos Read the documentation, but you can also ask the agent to explain…
About NanoClaw
An AI assistant that runs agents securely in their own containers. Lightweight, built to be easily understood and completely customized for your needs. nanoclaw.dev • docs • 中文 • 日本語 • 한국어 • • Agents in Slack: one app per agent Setup provisions each agent its own Slack app: manifest, avatar, and workspace install, no tokens to paste. Spawn teammates from chat: every one gets its own bot identity, container, and memory, with shared rooms and canvases. Why I Built NanoClaw OpenClaw is an impressive project, but I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I had given complex software I didn't understand full access to my…
read the full NanoClaw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pi or NanoClaw more popular?
pi has 119,586 GitHub stars and NanoClaw has 31,073. pi has the larger community by that measure.
Are pi and NanoClaw free?
Both are open source. pi is licensed under MIT and NanoClaw under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pi and NanoClaw?
pi is written in TypeScript and NanoClaw 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, pi or NanoClaw?
Choose pi if you want the larger community (119,586 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose NanoClaw if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.