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Khoj vs OpenClaw

A side-by-side comparison of Khoj and OpenClaw, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.

Compared from listings verified as of

Khoj

Research

AI second brain that chats with your docs and the web, local or hosted.

View Khoj

OpenClaw

Assistant

Local-first personal AI assistant you run on your own devices, on any platform.

View OpenClaw

At a glance

Feature comparison of Khoj and OpenClaw
AttributeKhojOpenClaw
Category (differs)ResearchAssistant
Pricing (differs)FREEMIUMBYO KEY
License (differs)Open coreOpen source
Deployment (differs)HybridSelf-host
Platforms (differs)Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, LinuxmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, CLI
Model support (differs)Multi-modelBYO key / model
Vendor (differs)Khoj AIOpenClaw Foundation
Capabilities (differs)
  • Trigger-action automation
  • Multi-model access
  • Chat with documents
  • Web research agent
  • Trigger-action automation
  • Browser automation
  • Tool / function calling
  • Agent memory
  • Email assistant
  • Calendar scheduling

The honest brief

Khoj

AGPL second brain that lives inside Obsidian, Emacs, desktop and mobile — self-host over your own notes and the web.

  • AGPL-3.0 licensed, self-hostable
  • Searches local docs plus the web
  • Custom agents and scheduled automations
  • Self-hosting takes setup effort
  • AGPL license can deter commercial use
  • Smaller team than big assistants
  • Cloud tier needed for zero-setup use

OpenClaw

Self-hosted assistant run from WhatsApp/Telegram/Slack/Discord — one of the few that also runs on iOS and Android.

  • Free to self-host on your own devices
  • Controlled from common chat apps
  • Gateway control plane, onboarding wizard
  • BYO model key, no vendor lock-in
  • Self-host setup required
  • BYO key means separate model costs
  • Young project, evolving fast
  • Smaller community than hosted assistants

When to pick which

Across the signals we compare, Khoj and OpenClaw differ on pricing, license, deployment, platforms, and 1 more:

Pricing
FREEMIUM · BYO KEY
License
Open core · Open source
Deployment
Hybrid · Self-host
Platforms
Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux · macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, CLI
Model support
Multi-model · BYO key / model

Their capability lists differ in recorded depth — compare the full lists above before deciding.

Khoj detailsOpenClaw details