OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw
Two of the top assistants, side by side: score, setup, license, activity and what each review found.
OpenClaw
Personal assistant gateway that answers in Discord, Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram
ZeroClaw
Single Rust binary agent runtime with 30+ channels and hardware access
| What we compare | OpenClaw | ZeroClaw |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 100, widely used | 51, popular |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 91, healthy | 85, healthy |
| Easy to run | 50, easy | 67, easy |
| Agent-ready | 45, minimal | 85, ready |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 391.7k | 33k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | Apache-2.0 (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | Oct 2026 | Sep 2026 |
| Language | Not stated | Rust |
| Docker | Yes | Yes |
| GPU | Not needed | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Mentioned |
OpenClaw
OpenClaw runs a local Gateway that connects one assistant to Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp and 20+ other channels, plus native apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux. Model providers and agent harnesses (Claude, Codex, local models) are swappable plugins; state, memory and credentials stay on the host. The same Gateway serves one person or a team, differing only in configuration.
Who it is for: Self-hosters who want one assistant reachable from every chat app they use
Strengths
- Channels for Discord, iMessage, Slack, Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp and 20+ more from one Gateway
- Native companion apps on macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux add voice, camera and screen
- No paid tier or hosted service; stewarded by a 501(c)(3) foundation
- Model providers and agent harnesses are plugins; swap Claude, Codex or local models
Weaknesses
- Tools run on the host for the main session unless sandboxing is configured
- Requires Node 24.16+ or 26.1+; the repo is pnpm-only, plain npm install is unsupported
- Daily version check phones home by default; disable with update.checkOnStart: false
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Models: Claude, Codex, local models
ZeroClaw
ZeroClaw is one Rust binary that routes messages from 30+ channels (Discord, Telegram, Matrix, email, voice, webhooks, CLI) to an agent loop backed by Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible provider, with fallback chains. Tools cover shell, browser, HTTP, MCP servers and GPIO/I2C/SPI/USB on Raspberry Pi, STM32 and ESP32. Supervised autonomy, OS sandboxes and signed tool receipts gate each action.
Who it is for: Tinkerers wanting an always-on agent on a Pi or home server with GPIO access
Strengths
- Default supervised mode: medium-risk operations need approval, high-risk ones are blocked
- Hardware peripherals on Raspberry Pi, STM32, Arduino and ESP32 via a Peripheral trait
- HTTP/WebSocket gateway plus web dashboard for chat, memory, config and cron
- Dual-licensed MIT or Apache-2.0; installs as systemd, launchctl or Windows service
Weaknesses
- Hand-written TOML config; a minimal V3 config needs four sections before it runs
- README states no RAM figures and no gateway port
- Unix installer places the binary under the Cargo bin directory
- no GPU
- Docker + Compose
- Models: Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenAI Codex, Ollama, OpenAI-compatible endpoints