Run any AI agent on a VPS — 24/7
Self-host the best open-source AI agents on your own server: always on, no rate limits, your data on your hardware, and no vendor lock-in. One-click deploy the agents marked ⚡, or follow our step-by-step guides for the rest. The comparison below is rendered from our continuously-verified agent dataset.
The short answer
For a self-hosted personal assistant, run OpenClaw or Hermes Agent — both are MIT-licensed, model-agnostic, and deploy in one click. For terminal coding, Claude Code and Codex are the most capable but lock you to one vendor's models; Cline, Aider and OpenHands are open-source, BYO-key alternatives you can point at any model. Any of them runs on a $5–$10/mo VPS with 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM.
Agents compared
Every cell below comes from our structured dataset with per-field verification dates. A dash (—) means a value we have not yet verified first-hand rather than an assumed one. Each agent also has a full profile page with the complete attribute set.
| Feature | OpenClaw | Hermes Agent | Claude Code | Codex | OpenHands | LangChain | Aider | Cline | goose | Pi | OpenCode | Grok Build | Cursor CLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | MIT | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary |
| Language | TypeScript | Python | — | Rust | Python | Python, TypeScript | Python | TypeScript | Rust | TypeScript | TypeScript | Rust | — |
| Interface | CLI, Desktop app, API | CLI, Desktop app, API | CLI, SDK, IDE extension | CLI | Web UI, CLI, API | SDK, API | CLI | IDE extension, CLI | CLI, Desktop app, API | CLI, TUI, SDK | CLI, TUI, Desktop app, Web UI | TUI, CLI, IDE extension | CLI |
| Model-agnostic | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
| Providers | Anthropic, OpenAI, Other | OpenAI, OpenRouter, Other | Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google | OpenAI | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Other | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Mistral, Cohere, Ollama, Other | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Cohere, Ollama, OpenRouter, Other | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Ollama, Other | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama, OpenRouter, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Other | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Other | — | — | — |
| Local models | Via proxy | Via proxy | None | None | Full | Full | Via proxy | Full | Full | — | — | — | — |
| MCP | Native | Native | Native | — | Native | Native | — | Native | Native | — | — | Native | — |
| Code execution | Native | Native | Native | Native | Native | Via plugin | Native | Native | Native | Native | Native | Native | — |
| Browser/computer use | Native | — | Via plugin | None | Native | Via plugin | None | Native | — | — | — | — | — |
| Self-host difficulty | Moderate | Easy | Easy | Easy | Moderate | — | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | — |
| Min RAM (measured) | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 2 GB | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Idle RAM (measured) | 278 MB | 120 MB | None resident | None resident | 846 MB | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Deploy | Native, Binary | Native | Native, Binary | Native, Binary | Docker, Kubernetes, Native | Native, Docker, Serverless, Kubernetes | Native | Native | Binary, Native | Native, Binary, Docker | Native, Binary | Binary, Native | — |
| Pricing | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Usage-based | Usage-based | OSS + paid cloud | OSS + paid cloud | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Free / OSS | Paid license |
| Maturity | Beta | Beta | Production | Production | Production | Production | Production | Production | — | — | — | — | — |
= one-click hosting on AgentOcean. Matrices are objective; recommendations reflect our first-party deployment experience. Data last verified 2026-06-17.
Why self-host an AI agent?
- Always on — runs 24/7 independent of your laptop
- No rate limits — you control the model and the budget
- Data stays on your server — full privacy and ownership
- No lock-in — fork it, swap models, migrate any time
Head-to-head comparisons
Deploy an agent in under a minute
Pick a plan and one-click launch a hardened VPS with your agent pre-installed — or grab a plain VPS and follow our self-host guides.