Herald vs Hermex: which Hermes Agent app is right for you?

Herald and Hermex side by side

Choose Hermex if…

• You want a free app. Hermex has no price and no in-app purchases.
• You already run hermes-webui, or you want its workspace, sessions and file browser on your phone.
• You code from your phone and want to review edits as diffs, browse workspace files and queue, steer or stop a running task.
• You want open-source code you can read or build yourself. Hermex is MIT licensed.
• You prefer one of its 17 languages, including Spanish, German, Korean, Chinese and Arabic.
• You value a large base of reviews: 4.7 stars from 181 ratings on the US App Store when we checked.

Choose Herald if…

• You run Hermes on more than one computer and want every bot in one roster, with group chats where bots from different machines @mention each other.
• You want your bots on your Apple Watch and in CarPlay, or someone in your home uses Android.
• You want to talk hands-free: an on-device “Hey Herald” wake word, voice notes transcribed by your own Hermes and replies read aloud.
• You’d rather not run a second server. Herald talks to Hermes directly.
• You like Hermes Pet, an animated companion that acts out each bot’s work on the Dynamic Island, Lock Screen and StandBy.
• You want a one-time price, no account and no Herald server in the middle.

Setup and what runs on your computer

Hermex is a client for hermes-webui, a community web app by nesquena that runs Hermes inside its own Python server, on port 8787 by default. The Hermex guide has three steps: run hermes-webui, make it reachable with Tailscale Serve or Cloudflare Tunnel, then type the URL and password into the app. It estimates about 15 minutes. A Bot Mode beta can sign in to Hermes’s own dashboard instead.

Herald talks to the Hermes you already run. On that computer, npx herald-setup (Node 20 or later) sets a dashboard username and password, starts hermes serve if nothing is answering, publishes it with Tailscale Serve when Tailscale is installed, and prints a QR code. Scan it in the app and you’re connected. The setup guides cover Mac, Linux, Windows with WSL2, Docker and more.

Away from home, both apps work well over Tailscale. Neither needs an account with its developer.

Price

Hermex is free. Herald costs $12.99 once, and stores set local prices. One App Store purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and CarPlay; Google Play is a separate purchase. There’s no subscription, no in-app purchase and no account.

If cost matters most, start with Hermex. What Herald charges for is the Apple Watch, CarPlay and Android apps, the combined roster across computers and the hands-free voice features. See pricing.

Privacy and notifications

Neither app has its own agent backend, analytics or tracking. Hermex’s optional push uses an open-source relay you can host yourself, and message previews are encrypted on your Hermes host before they leave it.

Herald’s optional push needs the hermes-bot-push plugin on your computer. Only the banner, a bot’s name and a short status such as “needs approval”, passes through Expo’s push service on its way to Apple or Google. Your conversations stay between your phone and your computers.