# IronClaw vs OpenClaw

> Side-by-side comparison of two projects in the OpenClaw ecosystem.

Canonical HTML: https://shelldex.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw/
JSON: https://shelldex.com/api/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json

| Field | IronClaw | OpenClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tagline | Rust-hardened privacy fortress | The OG self-hosted AI super-agent |
| Language | rust | typescript |
| Status | active | active |
| Stars | 12k | 372k |
| Forks | 1424 | 77049 |
| Open issues | 925 | 7041 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Last commit | 2026-05-15T16:49:45Z | 2026-05-15T16:50:31Z |
| 7d growth | 106 | 3106 |
| MCP support | no | yes |
| Requires LLM | yes | yes |
| Platforms | server | server |
| Categories | privacy, security | reference, self-hosted |
| Health score | 75/100 | 95/100 |
| Leaderboard rank | #13 | #1 |

## Key differences

- OpenClaw has 30x more stars (372k vs 12k), indicating significantly broader adoption.
- OpenClaw is growing faster with +3.1k stars this week vs +106 for IronClaw.
- IronClaw is written in Rust while OpenClaw uses TypeScript, which may influence your choice depending on your stack.
- IronClaw uses the Apache-2.0 license while OpenClaw uses MIT.
- OpenClaw has MCP (Model Context Protocol) support while IronClaw does not.
- IronClaw focuses on privacy, security while OpenClaw targets reference, self-hosted.

## Descriptions

### IronClaw

Rust implementation focused on privacy and security. When your agent needs armor plating.

### OpenClaw

The original. Self-hosted AI super-agent platform. Formerly Clawdbot, then Moltbot. The project that started it all.