So I've been following the AI agent space pretty closely lately and I've been running both OpenClaw and Hermes Agent side by side. Not here to hype either one, just sharing what I've actually experienced.
OpenClaw
Big name, right? You'd expect that to mean polish and reliability, but honestly, it's been a mixed bag for me. They push updates constantly, which I respect, but stability feels like an afterthought. There have been multiple times where it just... gets stuck out of nowhere. No clear error, no indication of what happened, just hanging there. And the thing that really bugs me: skills don't save directly.
Hermes Agent
Much smaller community right now, but honestly? This one surprised me. The standout feature is that it can automatically create new skills and self-evolve based on usage, which is exactly the kind of thing I want in an agent. It's running on Kimi K2.6 under the hood and the performance has been solid so far. It's rough around the edges in some ways, but the core concept actually works, and that matters more to me at this stage.
I'm not firmly in either camp, I keep following both because the space is moving fast and today's underdog can flip quickly. But right now, Hermes is doing more with less, and that's interesting to me.
Anyone else been testing these? Would love to hear if your experience is different, especially with OpenClaw's stability issues, curious if it's just my setup or a wider thing.