Grok Bot, OpenAI Dots, OpenClaw and Hermes Agent: AI agents compared in 2026

Grok Bot is xAI's agent product, launched in beta on 11 August 2026 and pitched as "AI teammates you can give real work to". Each account gets a persistent cloud computer with a browser, files and a terminal. Its most original feature: you record your screen while doing a task, and the Bot turns it into a reusable skill.

Access was widened on 26 August: Grok Bot is included in SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus and SuperGrok Heavy, and in Cursor Pro, Pro+, Ultra and Teams plans. An Enterprise version arrived on 3 September, followed on 28 September by Team Bots, shared by a whole team.

What you need to know: the launch page says Bots have "their own computer", but xAI's documentation states that all the Bots on an account share the same cloud computer, with its files, sessions and logins. xAI warns that two Bots should not be treated as a security boundary.

Dots is OpenAI's agentic assistant, unveiled on 29 September 2026 at DevDay and powered by GPT-6 Astra. A dot has its own cloud computer, learns from your feedback, works around the clock and connects to more than 4,000 apps. You talk to it from ChatGPT, Slack or Teams.

You start with a single dot, which you name and customise; OpenAI says teams of specialist dots will come later. The first dot is included at no extra charge with ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium.

For a European company, two limits matter. The Pro plan is not available in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland at launch: you need Business Premium. And OpenAI itself warns that dots can make mistakes and asks users to check any work with serious consequences.

OpenClaw is an open-source personal agent created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, first published in November 2025 and renamed twice before taking its current name in late January 2026. Its GitHub repository has more than 387,000 stars and 81,000 forks, according to TIME. It connects to your tools and is driven from your messaging apps. I have used it on my own projects since its earliest versions.

Its governance changed in 2026: Peter Steinberger joined OpenAI in February, and the project is now run by the OpenClaw Foundation, an independent body with no paid tier. OpenAI is a donor, not an owner.

Its weakness is well known: security. In early 2026, an audit found 512 vulnerabilities, eight of them critical. CVE-2026-25253, rated 8.8 out of 10, allowed one-click remote code execution; it has been patched. Researchers also counted 341 malicious extensions and more than 42,000 installations exposed on the internet. In March 2026, Chinese authorities restricted its use in state-run companies.

Hermes Agent is an open-source agent from Nous Research, launched in February 2026 under the MIT licence. Its distinctive feature is a built-in learning loop: it creates skills from what it does, improves them with use and keeps its memory from one session to the next. It works with almost any model and can run on a $5-a-month server.

Its repository shows 251,000 stars and 53,900 forks in October 2026. It offers a command that directly imports the settings, memory and skills of an OpenClaw installation. The trade-off: you need to know how to install, configure and monitor a server.