# Vellum vs Hermes Agent > Personal AI assistant vs open-source self-hosted agent framework > Last updated: May 21, 2026 > Comparison: https://www.vellum.ai/compare-assistants/vellum-vs-hermes-agent ## Overview Vellum is a personal AI assistant that runs as a native Mac app on your machine or in Vellum Cloud, with iOS, web app, voice, email, Telegram, Slack, and Microsoft Teams surfaces that share one memory. Hermes Agent is an open-source CLI-based agent framework from Nous Research that you self-host on your own infrastructure. ## The contenders ### Vellum Website: https://vellum.ai Vellum is a voice-first personal AI assistant that learns how you work and can improve itself around your habits. Its companion works alongside you in real time, or takes on longer tasks in the background. It follows you across devices and apps with one shared memory, and can run in Vellum Cloud or on your own machine. Why choose Vellum: - Model agnostic: Use any frontier AI model, open or proprietary, and switch anytime. - Truly yours: Give it a name and personality. It learns you, your work, and your tools. - Self-improving: Gets better the more you use it, with one memory across every device. - Private by design: Credentials stay secure, and you choose where your data lives, including self-hosting. - Built for busy business owners: Offload work and make more time for life. ### Hermes Agent Website: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent Hermes Agent is an open-source autonomous agent by Nous Research. It runs on your own server or VPS and is free to use under the MIT license. Why choose Hermes Agent: - Fully self-hosted meaning your data stays on your own server - MIT licensed and free, with an active open-source community - Supports 200+ models via OpenRouter and self-hosted endpoints - Gateway mode connects to Telegram, Slack, Discord, and 15+ messaging platforms ## The scorecard ### channels Vellum: 9 surfaces, one memory iOS app with Home Screen widgets, native Mac app, web app, voice, email, Slack, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, and Discord, now an official channel with a setup wizard. Sent messages can be edited in place in Slack and Telegram. Every surface shares the same memory and identity. Vellum runs natively on Mac and iOS with Home Screen widgets, plus web app, voice, email, Slack, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, and Discord. Sent messages can be edited in place in Slack and Telegram. Every surface shares the same memory, so you can start a task on your Mac and pick it up on your phone or in a chat. Hermes Agent: Herald desktop apps and multi-channel gateway Official Herald desktop apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux with native streaming voice. Gateway routes messages across Telegram, Discord, and Slack. With the August 2026 Herald release, Hermes Agent added official native desktop applications for macOS, Windows, and Linux featuring real-time streaming voice. Gateway mode can also connect to Discord, Telegram, and Slack, though mobile requires custom client setups. ### execution Vellum: One sentence to real output Build me a habit tracker gets you a working, interactive app in the conversation. Read this page uses the browser extension to read your open tabs and act on the page you are looking at. Call the dentist and reschedule places an actual phone call with its own voice. Hermes Agent: Local and server function execution Executes code, custom tools, and function calls locally or on self-hosted servers. Herald desktop apps add native streaming voice, but real-world browser and mobile workflows require custom tooling. Hermes Agent executes tool calls and scripts directly in your local environment or host server. While the Herald release introduced native desktop apps and streaming voice, browser automation, interactive apps, and phone calling must be built and configured manually. ### hosting Vellum: On-device, managed cloud, or self-hosted Run on-device as a native Mac app, on Vellum's managed cloud, or self-host on your own VPS. Vellum gives you the full range: run the native Mac app entirely on your own hardware, use Vellum Cloud for managed uptime and cross-device sync, or self-host on your own VPS for full infrastructure control. Hermes Agent: Self-hosted VPS or managed community hosts Run locally on desktop, self-host on a private server, or deploy via third-party community hosting like FlyHermes. Hermes Agent can be run on your local machine via the Herald desktop app, deployed to any cloud VPS, or hosted via community managed services like FlyHermes. The user manages or pays for compute and API access directly. ### integrations Vellum: 50+ managed OAuth integrations Native agent skills plus 1-click integrations with 50+ services through managed OAuth, including native Calendly and Eventbrite. Your assistant acts in real services without you touching tokens or API keys. Vellum connects to 50+ services through managed OAuth: Google, Slack, Notion, GitHub, Linear, Calendly, Eventbrite, and more. Your assistant acts in real services on your behalf without you handling tokens or API keys. Hermes Agent: BYO API keys with manual configuration Manual configuration required for every connector, key, and orchestration step you want to use. ### memory Vellum: Structured memory that builds itself, everywhere Vellum builds a structured memory of your projects, people, and preferences automatically, across every surface. It sharpens with every conversation and correction, and there is nothing to configure: no files to curate, no engine to pick, no embedding provider to wire up. Vellum builds a structured memory graph of your projects, people, and preferences across every surface. It sharpens over time through use and explicit corrections, so each conversation picks up where the last left off. Hermes Agent: Flat memory files, no managed layer Agent-curated flat memory files with no managed persistence. Long-term memory depends on what you wire up. ### modularity Vellum: Adapts to you personally Builds its own skills, learns your tone, and adapts based on what you reward and correct. Install new skills from a growing library, or just ask and it figures out a way. Vellum adapts at the individual level: it learns your communication style, builds custom skills from your instructions, and updates its behavior based on your feedback. Each assistant is shaped by the specific person using it. Hermes Agent: Fixed agent loop Customization happens through code changes. The core agent loop itself is fixed. ### open-source Vellum: Open source under MIT Open source under MIT license. Full codebase available on GitHub. Vellum is open source under the MIT license. The full codebase is on GitHub and can be self-hosted, audited, and extended. Hermes Agent: MIT-licensed open source Open source under MIT license. Full codebase available on GitHub. ### pricing Vellum: Free Base, paid from $30/mo Free Base plan with free credits to start. Paid plans from $30/mo (Mighty), $100 (Super), and $200 (Ultra) with pay-as-you-go credits, configurable compute and storage, and your assistant's own email and subdomain on higher tiers. Vellum offers a free Base plan with credits to start. Paid plans run from $30/mo (Mighty) to $100 (Super) and $200 (Ultra) with pay-as-you-go credits, configurable compute and storage, and a personal assistant email and subdomain on higher tiers. Hermes Agent: Open source, infrastructure costs apply Free codebase, but you pay for infrastructure, model API usage, and ongoing maintenance to keep it running. ### privacy Vellum: Local or cloud, always yours Run locally on Mac, in Vellum Cloud, or self-host. Vellum never has access to your data on any deployment path. Vellum gives you three deployment paths: native Mac app on your own hardware, Vellum Cloud with per-customer isolation, or self-hosted on your own infrastructure. On every path, Vellum never has access to your data. Hermes Agent: Self-hostable, provider-dependent Self-hostable, but your data passes through whatever model provider you wire up. Privacy depends on your stack. ### schedules Vellum: Built-in scheduling, always running Built-in scheduling for daily briefings, weekly reports, and hourly checks that just run on a cadence. Vellum has native scheduling for recurring tasks: daily briefings, weekly reports, hourly checks. Scheduled tasks run in the cloud whether or not you have a session open. Hermes Agent: No native scheduler No native scheduling. Bolt on cron or an external orchestrator. ### security Vellum: Isolated credential vault Credentials live in an isolated vault and never enter the model layer, so prompt injection can't exfiltrate your keys. Every sensitive action asks permission with a risk badge before it runs, and guardian approvals land in one inbox. Vellum stores every connected service credential in an isolated vault that never touches the LLM inference layer. Prompt injection attacks cannot reach your API keys or OAuth tokens. Hermes Agent: Credentials passed to the model API keys flow directly into model context for tool calls, with no isolation between credentials and LLM input. ### setup Vellum: Sign up and start talking No terminal, no API keys, no daemon. Voice-first onboarding is the default: your first experience is speaking, not configuring. Free, no credit card, up in minutes. Vellum setup is sign up and start talking. Create an account and your first sentence gets real output. Voice is the default first experience. No terminal, no config files, no API keys, no infrastructure to provision. Hermes Agent: Herald desktop installer or server setup Herald desktop apps install in minutes on Mac and PC. Full server deployments with custom gateways and third-party managed infrastructure (FlyHermes) still require developer setup. The Herald release introduced one-click desktop app installers for Mac, Windows, and Linux. For 24/7 background hosting, developers can deploy the open-source daemon on their own VPS or use managed platforms like FlyHermes with manual API key configuration. ### storage Vellum: Storage Vellum Cloud: 3 GB RAM and 4 GB storage by default. Mac app runs on standard Mac hardware. Hermes Agent: Storage Self-hosted. Resource needs scale with model size and tool load. No official minimum specs published. ### trust Vellum: Permissions you can see Every sensitive action asks first with a risk badge, guardian approvals land in one inbox, and you can export or delete your data at any time. The trust model is written down in the docs. Hermes Agent: Signed webhooks and host-level control Security boundaries depend entirely on your self-hosted setup. Herald added signed webhooks and A2A protocols, but host isolation and credential protection remain your responsibility. Hermes Agent relies on host-level sandboxing, environment variables, and self-managed infrastructure. The August Herald release added signed webhooks and agent-to-agent verification, but credential isolation from LLM context is not built into the framework. ## Where they split ### Which one is right for you? Hermes Agent is built for developers and AI researchers who want an open foundation for local function calling and agent experiments. You build and maintain your own integrations, skills, and tools. Vellum is built for anyone who wants a personal AI assistant that gets real work done out of the box. No coding, no command line, and no server configuration required. ### Which setup fits you best? Hermes Agent runs via self-hosted servers or terminal environments, with official Herald desktop apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Connecting messaging channels or mobile devices requires manual deployment. Vellum works everywhere immediately. Native Mac app, iOS, Android, web app, voice, email, Slack, and Telegram, all connected to the same persistent assistant with zero server setup. ### How do you want privacy and security handled? Hermes Agent gives you complete ownership of your code and local execution, but credential isolation and sandboxing depend entirely on your own host configuration. Vellum combines local execution on your device with an isolated credential vault where keys and tokens never enter model context. You get enterprise-grade privacy defaults automatically. ## Lingering questions ### When should I choose Vellum over Hermes Agent? Choose Vellum if you want a personal AI assistant that works out of the box across native Mac app, iOS, web app, voice, email, Telegram, and Slack, with persistent memory and managed credentials. No VPS to provision, no API keys to rotate, no terminal required. Vellum is built for every human, with native apps on every major surface and 24/7 background execution in Vellum Cloud. ### When does Hermes Agent make more sense? Hermes Agent makes sense if you are an AI researcher or engineer building custom function-calling pipelines or testing A2A communication. With the August Herald release, it now includes native desktop apps and streaming voice. Vellum is built for users who want an assistant that works immediately across Mac, iOS, Android, Slack, and web without writing code or managing servers. ### How much does Vellum and Hermes Agent cost? Hermes Agent is MIT licensed and free to download. Running it in production requires paying for cloud VPS hosting ($5 to $20/mo) or managed hosting like FlyHermes, plus LLM API usage. Vellum includes free cloud hosting when you sign up. Paid plans upgrade your assistant's compute and storage: Mighty at $30/mo, Super at $100/mo (plus $10 platform fee), and Ultra at $200/mo (plus $10 platform fee). For most users, all-in costs land close together, but Vellum eliminates server ops. ### How long does Vellum and Hermes Agent setup take? Vellum takes 5 to 10 minutes. Download the Mac app, sign in, and the setup wizard walks you through connecting your tools. Hermes requires provisioning a server, configuring a YAML file, and setting up API keys for each provider and integration. For non-technical users, that setup can take hours. ### How does memory work in Vellum vs Hermes Agent? Vellum builds a structured, persistent memory of your work, people, and patterns automatically across every session. The assistant manages its own understanding of you, and that memory stays consistent across native Mac app, iOS, web app, voice, email, Telegram, and Slack. Hermes curates MEMORY.md and USER.md files each session, backed by SQLite, which gives you visibility into what the model knows but puts the curation burden on you. ### What integrations do Vellum and Hermes Agent support? Vellum connects to 50+ services through managed OAuth with one-click setup and no API keys to handle, including Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, GitHub, Linear, X, and Telegram. Hermes integrates via manually configured API keys and MCP servers, so each service requires its own setup and ongoing key rotation. ### What surfaces does Vellum vs Hermes Agent work on? Vellum runs as a native Mac app, an iOS app, an Android app, and a web app, with voice, email, Telegram, Discord, and Slack surfaces in sync. Hermes Agent offers official Herald desktop apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux, plus gateway routing for Telegram, Discord, and Slack, but lacks official mobile client applications. ### Where does my data live with Vellum vs Hermes Agent? With Vellum, your data lives on Vellum Cloud with per-customer isolation, encryption at rest, configurable retention, and custom LLM credentials so model API keys stay under your control. Vellum never has access to your data on any deployment path, whether you run the native Mac app on your machine or use Vellum Cloud. With Hermes, your data stays on whatever server you self-host on, and uptime, backups, security patches, and credential rotation are your responsibility. ### Is Vellum open source? Can I self-host it? Yes. Vellum is open source and you can run it as a native Mac app on your own machine. The full Vellum experience also includes Vellum Cloud for 24/7 background execution, the OAuth credential vault, and managed infrastructure on the Pro plan from $50/mo. Either path gives you the same assistant, memory, and identity. ### Can I use Vellum and Hermes Agent at the same time? Technically yes. Some developers run Vellum as their daily-driver personal assistant across surfaces and use Hermes for specific technical workflows. Most people find one assistant handles everything they need. If you are unsure where to start, Vellum is the faster path to a working assistant. ### Is Vellum or Hermes Agent better for non-technical users? Vellum is built for every human, with native Mac app, iOS, web app, voice, email, Telegram, and Slack surfaces. No terminal, no server, no API keys, and no daemon to maintain. Hermes Agent is a CLI-based framework that assumes Python, a terminal, and host administration. --- Full comparison index: https://www.vellum.ai/compare-assistants Try Vellum: https://www.vellum.ai