Hermes Agent alternatives: 6 options compared (2026)
Want Hermes Agent's memory and always-on work without the upkeep, or with a team of agents? Compare KutrimBots, Lindy, Manus, OpenClaw, MausBot and Rakazo.
The best Hermes Agent alternative depends on what you want to keep. For Hermes-style memory and background work without running a server, KutrimBots (a team of business agents with shared memory), Lindy (one AI employee for a team) and Manus (scheduled tasks and automations) are hosted. To stay open source, OpenClaw gives you more channels and skills, while MausBot and Rakazo give you a team of bots instead of one agent.
Disclosure: KutrimBots publishes this blog and is one of the alternatives below. Facts come from each product's website, documentation or GitHub repository, as of October 29, 2026.
What makes Hermes Agent different?
Hermes Agent, from Nous Research, is an MIT-licensed open-source agent with about 258,000 GitHub stars. It's built around learning:
- Memory it curates itself, with periodic nudges to keep it current.
- Skills it writes. After a complex task, it saves a reusable skill and improves it with use.
- Background work. A built-in scheduler runs jobs and delivers results to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email or the command line.
- Flexible execution. Commands can run on your computer, in Docker, over SSH or in cloud sandboxes.
It's free, and Nous Portal sells model credits (Plus $20 a month, Super $100, Ultra $200) if you don't bring your own key.
Why look for a Hermes Agent alternative?
People usually switch for one of four reasons:
- You don't want to run it. Always-on means a computer or server that never sleeps, plus updates; Hermes released three versions between October 21 and 23, 2026.
- You want a team, not one agent. Hermes is a single agent; some people want several agents with separate jobs that hand work to each other.
- You need business tools. Hermes reaches your apps, but it doesn't come with a CRM, helpdesk or invoices.
- You want approvals and guardrails set for you, instead of designing your own.
The 6 alternatives at a glance
| Alternative | Type | Memory and learning | Price as of October 29, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| KutrimBots | Hosted team of agents | Private memory per agent, plus Super Brain team memory | $20, $49 or $89 a month, AI usage included |
| Lindy | Hosted AI employee | Editable memory stored as files; learns skills from one demonstration | $49.99 per user a month (Team), credits pooled |
| Manus | Hosted autonomous agent | Scheduled tasks and event automations | Free tier; Pro from $20 a month (4,000 credits) |
| OpenClaw | Open source (MIT) | Thousands of community skills on ClawHub | Free, plus your model and server |
| MausBot (OpenMausBot) | Open source (Apache-2.0) | Per-bot memory, team memory, shareable team templates | Free, or Cloud from $15 a month |
| Rakazo | Open source (Apache-2.0) | Persistent bots with their own memory and routines | Free, plus your model and server |
1. KutrimBots: a team with one shared memory
KutrimBots runs always-on agents for you in the cloud and organises them as a business team. It's the closest hosted match to Hermes's memory, with one difference: memory is designed for several agents at once.
- Private memory for each agent, so a sales agent's notes stay with the sales agent.
- Super Brain, a team memory for business knowledge such as prices, policies and how-tos. Each note records who wrote it, notes from other agents are treated as information rather than instructions, and anything that looks like a password or an injected instruction is left out.
- Routines and automations that run on schedules or when something happens, such as a new lead, a form answer or a booking.
- Approvals before anything that sends, posts, pays or deletes.
- Built-in tools: CRM & Leads, Email Inbox, a website Chat Widget, Bookings, Forms, Invoices, Support Desk and more.
Price: $20 a month for up to 5 agents, $49 for 20, $89 for 50, with AI usage included, after a 7-day trial for $1.
Less good: it isn't open source, and you can't change the agent's code. See KutrimBots vs OpenClaw and Hermes Agent for a head-to-head.
2. Lindy: one AI employee for the whole team
Lindy is a hosted "AI employee" that works in Slack, iMessage, Gmail and meetings. Like Hermes, it learns: show it how you do something once and it saves the skill for the whole team. It keeps an editable memory stored as plain files, runs scheduled routines, and connects to 1,500+ integrations plus any MCP server. Anything with outside impact waits for approval.
Price: the Team plan is $49.99 a month per active user with 5,000 credits each, pooled across the team, and you can start with $50 of free credits for 7 days.
Less good: cost grows with every person, and there's no built-in CRM or helpdesk. See our Lindy alternative comparison.
3. Manus: an autonomous agent with schedules
Manus is a hosted agent best known for research, slides and websites. Manus 2.0, released September 28, 2026, added a cloud computer and Automations: scheduled tasks are available to all users, and automations can start from a new email, a calendar event, a Slack message or a Notion update. For scheduled runs, a "Skip confirmations" setting lets trusted workflows send, publish or post without asking, which means confirmations are on by default.
Price: free with 300 credits a day, Pro from $20 a month for 4,000 credits, a higher Pro tier at $40 for 8,000, and Team from $20 per seat. Credits per task depend on its complexity and length.
Less good: credit use is hard to predict for long tasks. Manus left Meta and resumed independent operations on September 1, 2026.
4. OpenClaw: more channels, more skills
If you like Hermes but want breadth, OpenClaw is the obvious open-source switch. It has about 393,000 stars, an MIT license, 20+ messaging apps from WhatsApp to Teams, and ClawHub, a marketplace of community skills.
Price: free, with no paid tier; you bring the model and the machine.
Less good: the same upkeep as Hermes, and tools run on the host unless you configure sandboxing. See OpenClaw alternatives.
5. MausBot: a team of bots, even running Hermes
MausBot (formerly OpenMausBot) turns AI tools on your computer into a chat app of bots, each with its own model, computer and apps. Its list of supported engines includes Claude, Codex and Grok, and also Hermes, so you can keep Hermes as one engine among several.
Price: the desktop app is free under Apache-2.0; MausBot Cloud for always-on bots starts at $15 a month, with AI not included on Starter.
Less good: new desktop bots start at "Full access", so turn on approvals first. See KutrimBots vs OpenMausBot.
6. Rakazo: persistent bots with phone apps
Rakazo is an Apache-2.0 project in beta that gives you several persistent bots, each with "their own conversations, memory, routines, and history", plus shared or private computers. It has web, desktop, Android and iPhone apps, and installs with Docker Compose on your machine or a VPS.
Price: free, plus your model and a server for bots that stay on.
Less good: beta software you host yourself.
Where Hermes Agent is better
Hermes is still the best choice for some people:
- Self-improvement. Few products write and refine their own skills the way Hermes does.
- Free and MIT-licensed, with a huge community and frequent releases.
- Execution choice. Six terminal backends, from your laptop to cloud sandboxes.
- Channels. Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal and email out of the box.
- Full control over the model, the data and the code.
If you're comfortable running it, there's little reason to leave.
How to choose
- Want the same always-on agent, run for you, for a business? KutrimBots.
- Want one shared assistant for a team in Slack and Gmail? Lindy.
- Want research, slides and websites on a schedule? Manus.
- Want to stay open source with more reach? OpenClaw.
- Want several bots on your own computer? MausBot or Rakazo.
Whichever you pick, check what needs your approval before you connect email or payments; our guide to how AI agents work explains memory, tools and approvals.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Hermes Agent alternative?
For a hosted option that keeps Hermes-style memory and background work, KutrimBots fits businesses and Lindy fits teams in Slack and Gmail. For open source, OpenClaw is the closest rival, and MausBot or Rakazo suit people who want several bots.
Is Hermes Agent free?
Yes. It's free and open source under the MIT license. You pay for the machine it runs on and the AI model, either with your own key or Nous Portal credits from $20 a month.
Is there a hosted version of Hermes Agent?
Nous Research sells model credits through Nous Portal and links a "Deploy to the cloud" option, but the agent is mainly self-hosted. Hosted alternatives that run a similar always-on agent for you include KutrimBots, Lindy and Manus.
Can I run several Hermes agents as a team?
Not as a built-in team of role-based agents. MausBot can use Hermes as one engine among several bots, and hosted platforms like KutrimBots give you up to 5, 20 or 50 agents that hand work to each other.
Which Hermes Agent alternative has the best memory?
It depends on the job. Hermes and Lindy learn skills from experience; KutrimBots combines private memory for each agent with a shared team memory that records who wrote each note; Rakazo gives every bot its own memory.