Hermes StudiovsOrca
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Hermes Studio
EKKOLearnAI · Agent harness
OSSMCP
Panel
6.47 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.3
- Usefulness
- 6.3
- Cost
- 8.7
- Longevity
- 5.2
“It runs five different agents, but is explicitly not a sixth agent.”
Orca
Stably AI · Agent harness
OSS
Panel
6.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.8
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 6.7
- Longevity
- 6.0
“The Android app is at version 0.0.47, so it has shipped forty-seven times without anyone committing to version one.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Hermes Studio | Orca |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows, web | macos, windows, linux |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | No |
| MCP server | Yes | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | No |
| Git operations | No | Yes |
| Browser control | Yes | Yes |
| Sandboxed execution | Yes | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | No | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude Code, Codex, Pi, Hermes, Ekko | via managed agents (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Gemini, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode, Amp, Pi, Hermes Agent, Goose and others) |
| Bring your own model | Yes | No |
| Local models | Yes | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | free | free |
| Starts at | n/a | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | No |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 11,276 | 83,326 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Hermes Studio | Orca | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 7.0 | Hermes Studio — Pick Hermes Studio if you want a free, open-source workbench to run and compare multiple local agents without touching the command line. |
| El Crítico | 5.5 | 5.3 | Hermes Studio — Hermes Studio is a local agent orchestrator without version control, a dealbreaker for any coding workflow that requires rollbacks. |
| El Profesor | 4.0 | 6.0 | Orca — Design Mode sends a clicked element's HTML, CSS and a cropped screenshot into the prompt; SSH remote worktrees run agents on another box; no benchmark is published. |
| La Inversora | 7.0 | 5.5 | Hermes Studio — This is a free, open-source aggregator with respectable adoption but no visible business model, making its long-term maintenance and survival questionable. |
| La Jefa | 5.5 | 6.0 | Orca — Anonymous usage data is collected with an opt-out, there is no SSO, no plan and no vendor contact beyond a GitHub repo; approved with conditions as a personal tool. |
| El Hacker | 8.8 | 7.8 | Hermes Studio — Hermes Studio is a proper MIT-licensed orchestrator for multiple agents, giving you a local runtime with full MCP support and model freedom. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.