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Archie vs OpenClaw.

OpenClaw and Hermes are free, Vellum is free to start, and all three publish their code. Archie is free at 20 jobs a day on your own AI account, with connections, approval and updates built in.

Archie is in beta. Sources checked September 18, 2026, and September 29 for OpenClaw’s Windows app.

The short answer

Connections and approval, built in.

Two rows, drawn the same way, and the box is the same in both: your computer, on your own AI account, with a line to the AI you picked. In the top row, your own build, the three chips inside are drawn with dashed edges and each is tagged yours to write: calendar, mail and files connected; the approval gate; kept running as services change. In the bottom row, Archie, the same three chips are solid and tagged built in, built in with no off switch, and updates arrive. Your own build You Your computer your own AI account Calendar, mail and files connected yours to write The approval gate yours to write Kept running as services change yours to keep The AI you picked on your account Archie You Your computer your own AI account Calendar, mail and files connected built in The approval gate built in, no off switch Kept running as services change updates arrive The AI you picked on your account Two rows, stacked, and the box is the same in both: your computer, on your own AI account, with a line down to the AI you picked. On top, your own build: the three chips inside have dashed edges and are tagged yours to write: calendar, mail and files connected; the approval gate; kept running as services change. Below, Archie: the same three chips, solid, tagged built in, built in with no off switch, and updates arrive. Your own build You Your computer your own AI account Calendar, mail and files connected yours to write The approval gate yours to write Kept running as services change yours to keep The AI you picked, on your account Archie You Your computer your own AI account Calendar, mail and files connected built in The approval gate built in, no off switch Kept running as services change updates arrive The AI you picked, on your account
Both run on your computer, on your own AI account. On your build, the three chips are yours to write and keep working; on Archie they arrive built.
Where Archie wins

Set up accounts and add-ons in the app.

Connect through the picker

Calendar, mail, files and more, with tokens kept in your computer’s password storeSource 6. Keep the computer awake.

Keep approval built in

Emails wait until you send them or set a time; calendar changes wait for your yes. Neither can be turned offSource 5. Read each before you approve.

Shape your agent with add-ons

Add-ons are written instructions and settings for Archie’s built-in toolsSource 3. Updates and connected services add tools.

Where open source wins

Open code lets you change the tools.

Read and change the source

OpenClaw, Hermes and Vellum are MIT licensedSource 1. Archie’s code is not published; the Trust page shows how to watch its traffic.

Pay no software subscription

OpenClaw has no plan; Hermes and Vellum sell optional onesSource 7. AI and any hosting cost extra.

Write tools of your own

Your own build runs any code you write; Archie’s add-ons use its built-in toolsSource 3.

Why we charge

How each app gets paid for.

Five ways an app gets paid for, and who is on each. Hermes charges per use, in credits. Vellum rents you a computer. None of their prices is the data row. OpenClaw is paid by someone else: a non-profit stewards it. Archie charges for the app, $30 a month, or free at 20 jobs a day. Charge per use the bill moves with how much it helps Hermes Rent you a computer each plan is a computer of a given size Vellum Take your data the bill is your data not in their pricing Someone else pays a non-profit stewards it, and the code is MIT OpenClaw Charge for the app $30 a month, or free at 20 jobs a day Archie Five ways an app gets paid for, and who is on each. Hermes charges per use, in credits. Vellum rents you a computer. None of their prices is the data row. OpenClaw is paid by someone else: a non-profit stewards it. Archie charges for the app, $30 a month, or free at 20 jobs a day. Charge per use Hermes the bill moves with how much it helps Rent you a computer Vellum each plan is a computer of a given size Take your data not in their pricing the bill is your data Someone else pays OpenClaw a non-profit stewards it, and the code is MIT Charge for the app Archie $30 a month, or free at 20 jobs a day
What each paid plan buys, from their own pages, read September 16, 2026. OpenClaw has no plan: a non-profit stewards it. Only Archie’s row is the app itself.Source 7

Nobody is on the data row. Their pricing pages do not say so, and we have not audited what they do with data.

Prices and sources

The full comparison, with sources.

Archie is free at 20 jobs a day on your own AI account, or $30 a month without the limitSource 4. AI usage is extra: up to $5 a month for light use, more for heavySource 4.

Compare setup, approvals, upkeep and prices
Archie compared with OpenClaw, Hermes, Vellum and a build of your own, row by row
  Archie OpenClaw, Hermes, Vellum, or yours
Getting to a working agent Install, then answer a few questions A download for Hermes and Vellum; an app or a terminal for OpenClawSource 1, whose Windows app has a guided setupSource 8. Your own build starts from nothing
Connecting your accounts A picker, with tokens in your computer’s password storeSource 6 Each one’s own channels, skills and pluginsSource 1. On your own build, yours to write and keep safe
Approval before email or calendar changes Built in, and it cannot be skippedSource 5 A setting on all three, with off as one optionSource 1. On your own build, yours to write
Keeping it running Updates arrive. Either way, the computer must be on and awake Each has a team behind itSource 7. Your own build is yours to keep up: dependencies, breaking API changes, the lot
Changing how it behaves Instructions and add-ons, in the app Anything you like. This is the real prize
If the company disappears Our terms commit us to publishing a final build that needs no license checkSource 2 All three are MIT licensed, so the code stays with youSource 1. Your own build has nobody to disappear
What you pay Free at 20 jobs a day, or $30Source 4 a month without the limit, plus your own AI usage Nothing for OpenClaw, and optional paid plans on Hermes and VellumSource 7. Then the AI you use, and your time

The right column comes from what OpenClaw, Hermes and Vellum publish.

Sources for every figure and claim on this page
1OpenClaw, Hermes and Vellum, from their own pages

Read September 16 and 18, 2026, from openclaw.ai, hermes-agent.nousresearch.com and vellum.ai. All three are MIT licensed. Hermes and Vellum lead with a desktop download; OpenClaw ships desktop apps and a terminal path, npx openclaw@latest (its docs).

Approval is a setting on each. OpenClaw’s exec approvals govern commands, from deny to full, and the default “authorizes permitted changes without an approval prompt”. Hermes checks commands against “a curated list of dangerous patterns” with approvals.mode smart, manual or off (security docs). Vellum runs from Strict to Full access, where “your assistant never asks for permission” (its docs).

Each has a shelf of skills or plugins on top of its open code, and each reaches you on chat channels of its own. Vellum’s docs say a skill it writes bundles “any reference notes and scripts the workflow needs” (its docs).

2The final-build commitment

Our Terms of Service require us to publish a version that needs no license check if we cease operating. The reasoning is on the Trust page.

3Add-ons are text files

An add-on is written instructions and settings; Archie has nowhere to run code an add-on brings with it. Documented on the Trust page.

4Archie, $30 a month

Our price, and the AI usage on top of it, on our pricing page.

5Approval before an email or a calendar change goes out

How the hold works, and its honest limit, are on our Trust page.

6Where your account tokens sit

Archie keeps your account tokens in your computer’s own password store. Details, and every outbound connection it makes, are on our Trust page.

7What the three sell, from their own pages

Read September 16, 2026. Nous Portal plans for Hermes run from $0 to $200 a month for credits and hosted services; no tiers between are named, so none is quoted (hermes-agent.nousresearch.com).

Vellum is “free to download and start”. Its plans are Mighty at $30 a month, Super at $100 and Ultra at $200, each described as a computer by size (Mighty is a “Small computer 1 vCPU / 2 GiB, 10 GB storage”). Usage beyond a plan is metered at “$1 = 1 credit” (vellum.ai/pricing).

OpenClaw: “No subscription. No hosted tier. No token”, and it “is stewarded by the OpenClaw Foundation, an independent US 501(c)(3) non-profit” (openclaw.ai).

8OpenClaw, Microsoft and Autopilot

OpenClaw’s blog of September 25, 2026 says Autopilot’s “foundation is OpenClaw”, quoting Microsoft’s Omar Shahine: “We are building Autopilot on @openclaw”. It credits Microsoft contributors with “a guided setup experience” and “native WinUI chat and inline command approvals” in the Windows app. It does not say OpenClaw’s default approval mode changed.

Microsoft’s own post says Autopilot “lives in your tenant”, meaning an organization’s Microsoft 365, “is cloud-hosted”, and is “expanding to private preview at the end of the month.” It does not mention OpenClaw. Both read September 29, 2026.

On local models

A locally run model is more private than a hosted one. Archie can bind one on your own computer, only after it shows it can use a tool, which small models often cannot. It is not the default.

Our claim has always been about custody, that no server of ours holds your content, and never about being the most private option available.

Skip the evenings on a build.

Download Archie All Comparisons →

Free for Mac and Windows, on your own AI account.

On OpenClaw already? Bring your agent over with its notes, skills and scheduled jobs.