Comparison · Checked on
Polabot vs Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent, from Nous Research, is “the agent that grows with you”: an MIT-licensed agent that keeps curated memory, creates and improves its own skills, and is reached from Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email, the command line or a desktop app. Nous also offers optional cloud hosting. Polabot is aimed at a different shape of work: a team of bots, each with a job, in one app with an iPhone companion.
Who each one is for
Polabot is for
People who want several bots with clear jobs working side by side, group chats between them, an iPhone app, and the Claude Code, Codex, Gemini or Grok plan they already pay for, Claude Pro included.
Hermes Agent is for
People who want one capable agent that learns over time, with a wide choice of model providers and terminal backends, reachable from many chat apps, and the option of Nous-hosted cloud.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Polabot | Hermes Agent |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A desktop and iPhone app for a team of always-on AI “bear bots” that work on your own computers. | An open-source agent with curated memory that creates and improves its own skills: “The agent that grows with you.” |
| Made by · license | Polabot, an independent product. The desktop app is built on the open-source OpenMausBot (Apache-2.0), with parts adapted from Nuphos (Apache-2.0). | Nous Research. MIT license. |
| Computers | macOS and Windows apps. Also runs headless on a Mac mini or a cloud PC. | Desktop app for macOS 12+ and Windows 10/11; terminal install on macOS, Linux and Windows; Android through Termux. |
| Phone | iPhone app, through TestFlight first. It can watch and take over a computer’s screen. | No native phone app stated; a web app in the phone’s browser, or Termux on Android. |
| Where you talk to it | The Polabot app on desktop and iPhone: a chat per bot, group chats, and a sessions board for every running session. | Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email and the CLI through one gateway, plus the desktop app. |
| AI models and who bills them | Runs the official Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and Grok tools on your computer, signed in to your own subscriptions. Several accounts with automatic failover. No per-token bill from Polabot. | Nous Portal, OpenRouter, Anthropic and many other API providers; ChatGPT/Codex sign-in; Claude sign-in only on a Max plan with purchased extra usage (“Claude Pro subscribers cannot use this path”); local models. |
| Several bots, group chats | Yes. Each bear has a class, its own instructions, tools and AI account. Bears talk to each other in group chats. | Subagents run parallel workstreams. Several bots in one group chat: not stated. |
| Schedules and triggers | Daily, every few minutes or a cron line. Webhooks and an API; while the computer sleeps, deliveries wait up to 72 hours. | A built-in cron scheduler and an HMAC-signed webhook receiver. |
| Connected apps and MCP | Gmail, Outlook, GitHub, Cloudflare, Railway, Notion, Slack, Stripe, Google Calendar, Discord, X and more. Anything else through MCP. | MCP; skills compatible with agentskills.io. |
| Using a computer and browser | A bot can look, click and type on the computer and in a browser when there is no API. | Terminal backends: local, Docker, SSH, Modal, Daytona and Vercel Sandbox; a cloud browser through Browser Use. Native desktop control: not stated. |
| Where your data lives | Bots, their work and your files stay on your computers. Polabot Cloud keeps your sign-in, devices and synced bot settings and memory, and relays requests. | Config, secrets, memories and sessions in ~/.hermes on your machine. With cloud hosting, the agent runs on Nous’s servers. |
| Self-hosting | The bots always run on your own machines. Polabot Cloud (sign-in, sync, relay) is a hosted service; there is no self-hosted version of it. | Yes: it runs on your own machine or server; cloud hosting is optional. |
| Price | Free ($0, one computer). Pro $12 a month ($9 billed yearly). Max $29 a month ($22 billed yearly). Cloud PC add-on from $25 a month. | Free (MIT). Optional cloud hosting: Plus $20, Super $100 and Ultra $200 a month; model usage billed separately. |
Pricing
Polabot. Free costs nothing and covers one computer. Pro is $12 a month (or $108 a year) for three computers, remote access and social automations; Max is $29 a month (or $264 a year) for ten computers, five spaces and the ads suite. Every new account starts with a 14-day Pro trial without a card. Your AI subscriptions are billed by their providers, not by Polabot.
Hermes Agent. Hermes Agent itself is free and open source under the MIT license. Cloud hosting is optional: Plus at $20 a month (one cloud agent, 4 GB RAM), Super at $100 and Ultra at $200 with larger machines. Model providers and hosted tools have their own pricing.
Privacy and where your data lives
Polabot. The bots run on your computers, so their conversations, files and what they do on screen stay there. Prompts go straight from your computer to your AI provider under your own account. Polabot Cloud stores your account, devices and the bot settings and memory you choose to sync, and relays requests; webhook payloads are held only while queued, for at most 72 hours. See the privacy policy.
Hermes Agent. Run locally, its configuration, secrets, memories and sessions are files in ~/.hermes on your machine, and prompts go to the model provider you choose. If you choose Nous’s cloud hosting, the agent and its data run on Nous’s servers. The project lists command approval, pairing for direct messages and container isolation among its safety features.
Self-hosting
Polabot. You run the bots yourself, on a Mac, a Windows PC, a Mac mini that stays on, or a cloud PC. The cloud part (Google sign-in, sync between devices, remote access and the webhook relay) is run by Polabot and cannot be self-hosted.
Hermes Agent. Yes. Install with one command on macOS, Linux or Windows, or use the desktop app, and keep it on your own computer or a server; the desktop app can also connect to a remote backend.
Platforms
Polabot. Desktop apps for macOS and Windows, and an iPhone app (TestFlight first). There is no Android or Linux app.
Hermes Agent. A desktop app for macOS and Windows, terminal install on macOS, Linux and Windows, and Android through Termux. No native phone app is mentioned; you reach it on a phone through chat apps or the web app.
When to choose Hermes Agent instead
- You want a single agent that keeps learning and writes its own skills.
- You want many model providers or local models, and terminal backends such as Docker, SSH or Modal.
- You want a hosted cloud agent from the same team that makes the open-source one.
When Polabot fits better
- You want a team of bots with separate jobs that talk to each other in group chats.
- You pay for Claude Pro or Claude Code and want to use that plan directly.
- You want an iPhone app that can see your computer’s screen and take over.
Sources
Checked on 14 November 2026 on each vendor’s own website, documentation, repository and app store listing. Products change often; if something here is out of date, write to hello@polabot.app and we will fix it. “Not stated” means we could not find it on the vendor’s own pages.
- Hermes Agent — website hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/
- Hermes Agent on GitHub github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent
- Hermes Agent releases github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/releases
- Hermes Agent docs — Desktop hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/desktop
- Hermes Agent docs — Providers hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers
- Hermes Agent docs — Webhooks hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging/webhooks
- Hermes Agent docs — Configuration hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration
- Nous Portal — Cloud portal.nousresearch.com/cloud
- Polabot: this website’s home page, pricing and privacy policy.
Product names belong to their owners. Polabot is not affiliated with or endorsed by xAI, Cursor, the OpenClaw Foundation, Nous Research, NanoCo, the Agentic AI Foundation or the OpenMausBot project.