Iris vs OpenClaw
OpenClaw is an open source personal agent that you run on your own machine, with your own AI key, and talk to through WhatsApp, Telegram or Discord. It became one of the fastest growing projects on GitHub in 2026. Iris aims at the same promise, an assistant that is always on and actually does things, but ready to use and guarded by default.
Where OpenClaw is strong
OpenClaw is free and open, so you can read the code, change it and choose any model. It runs around the clock, remembers context, works on a schedule and has a large library of skills made by its community. If you like to tinker and run your own server, it gives you a lot of freedom.
What you take on when you run it yourself
An agent with shell access, your files and your messaging accounts is powerful, and that power is yours to secure: the server, the updates, the API bill, which skills you trust and what it is allowed to do without asking. Security researchers have warned about malicious community skills and exposed setups.
How Iris handles the same risks
Iris is an agent too, but every power is a switch, and every switch starts off. Before anything that counts, it asks for your okay with Face ID or Touch ID, and each approval covers one action. Passwords and cards stay in a vault the assistant uses without seeing. Every account runs in its own sealed-off space in Europe, and everything it does is written to a log you can read.
Ready on your devices
There is nothing to install on a server. Iris has its own apps for iPhone and Mac, a Chrome extension and a tv receiver, and a voice you can interrupt like a person. It also speaks Telegram and WhatsApp, like OpenClaw.
Be among the first
Have an invite? Log in. Using Iris means you accept the terms of service. The privacy statement explains what we keep.
Questions
Is Iris open source?
No. Iris is a hosted product by Woodst B.V. in the Netherlands. You get your own sealed-off assistant without running a server, and your data stays yours: you can take its memory with you if you leave.
Is OpenClaw free?
The software is free; you pay for the AI model you connect and for the computer it runs on. Iris has a free plan, and paid plans at 20, 40 and 180 euros a month per person, model use included.
Who is OpenClaw for?
Developers and tinkerers who want full control. Iris is for people who want the same kind of help without looking after a server.