head to head · open source
rowboat vs swarmclaw
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars, 1,817 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped yesterday. swarmclaw has 704 stars, 144 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 2,475% (18,131 vs 704 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; swarmclaw is written in TypeScript under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, swarmclaw 20%. rowboat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agents, ai, ai-agents), 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
| rowboat | swarmclaw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 704 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-06-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 144 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick swarmclaw if
- You want the swarmclaw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and swarmclaw fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat A desktop AI coworker with a memory of your work and built in surfaces to act on it. 简体中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português Rowboat indexes your work into a living knowledge graph and uses that to get work done on your machine. It includes work surfaces for collaborating with AI: email client, notes, browser, code mode, meeting note taker, and workspaces for different projects. Download latest for Mac/Windows/Linux: Download Demo apps to code · Demo knowledge graph ⭐ If you find Rowboat useful, please star the repo. It helps more people find it. Overview Brain Rowboat indexes email, meetings…
read the full rowboat overview →
About swarmclaw
SwarmClaw The self hosted AI agent runtime and multi agent framework for autonomous agents. Open source agent swarms with durable agent memory, MCP tools, skills, delegation, schedules, and 23+ LLM providers — a practical Claude Code and LangChain alternative. SwarmClaw is an open source, self hosted AI agent runtime and multi agent framework. Run autonomous AI agents, agent swarms, and orchestrators with heartbeats, schedules, delegation, agent memory, runtime skills, and reviewed conversation to skill learning — across OpenClaw gateways, Claude, GPT, Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama, and 23+ other providers. Use it…
read the full swarmclaw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or swarmclaw more popular?
rowboat has 18,131 GitHub stars and swarmclaw has 704. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and swarmclaw free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and swarmclaw under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and swarmclaw?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and swarmclaw 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, rowboat or swarmclaw?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (18,131 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose swarmclaw if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.