Ecosystem report · 43 tracked · data as of Oct 2, 2026
State of the ecosystem.
What moved across every tracked OpenClaw alternative, how the architecture cohorts actually compare, and where the security and deployment posture sits. Numbers are computed from the same data the profiles use — no figure on this page is written by a model.
Tracked
43
projects in every table below
New stars
3,419
across 7 days
Flat
17
gained nothing in the window
Hardened
5
security ≥ 85 and shell risk ≤ 4
The short version
Five things worth knowing before you open the index. Everything below expands on them with the full tables.
- 01Hermes Agent led absolute gains at +1870; OpenClaw added +458 to 390599.
- 02Edge and minimalist tools are the largest cohort at 22 projects with a median 12.5 MB footprint.
- 03Compiled runtimes average a security score of 78 versus 66 for scripting runtimes.
- 0436 projects are local-first and only 4 require a cloud account.
What moved
Star movement, Sep 25, 2026 → Oct 2, 2026.
Measured from the daily star history for 43 of 43 tracked projects. Absolute growth favours the large repos, so the relative column is listed beside it.
Most stars added
17 of 43 projects gained nothing over the window.
Architecture
Three cohorts, assigned by rule.
Rules are applied in order and the first match wins, so all 43 projects land in exactly one cohort and none can appear twice. Medians are computed per cohort.
Single-binary runtimes small enough for a tiny VPS, an ARM board, or an always-on background process.
Rule: Memory ≤ 20 MB and boot ≤ 50 ms
- Mem
- 12.5 MB
- Boot
- 30 ms
- Sec
- 78
+ 17 more in this cohort
Heavier runtimes that carry shared workspaces, tenant separation, or channel fan-out for a group.
Rule: Multi-user declared, above the edge footprint
- Mem
- 90 MB
- Boot
- 220 ms
- Sec
- 67
+ 7 more in this cohort
Single-operator assistants that keep the reference feature surface and pay for it in memory and boot time.
Rule: Everything else
- Mem
- 90 MB
- Boot
- 220 ms
- Sec
- 68
+ 4 more in this cohort
Security
The runtime split, in real numbers.
Averages and medians over the five security sub-scores every profile carries. Sandboxing and telemetry safety are protection axes where higher is better; shell risk runs the other way. How the axes are scored.
| Cohort | Projects | Avg security | Sandboxing | Shell risk | Telemetry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compiled runtimesRust, Go, Zig, C, C++, Kotlin | 20 | 78 | 7 / 10 | 5 / 10 | 8 / 10 |
| Scripting runtimesPython, TypeScript, JavaScript and friends | 23 | 66 | 5 / 10 | 7 / 10 | 6 / 10 |
Median score
72 / 100
Across all 43 tracked projects
Hardened
5
Security ≥ 85 with shell risk ≤ 4
Open shell
9
Shell risk ≥ 8, largely unsupervised execution
Posture
Where the data actually runs, and under what licence.
Local-first
36 / 43
Cloud required
4 / 43
Cloud optional
38 / 43
Multi-user
18 / 43
Licences
- MIT20
- Apache-2.010
- AGPL-3.02
- GPL-3.01
- Not published10
Runtimes by median footprint
20 projects run on a compiled runtime and 23 on a scripting runtime — the split that drives most of the footprint and containment difference above.
Next
The report shows the shape. The index gets you to a shortlist.
Every project named above links to its profile. Sort the full index by what you care about, then send two candidates into a side-by-side comparison.