Both Hermes and OpenCode are free, open-source coding agents. Both support multiple providers. The differences are in features and philosophy.
Quick Verdict
Hermes wins on features (cron, vision, background tasks). OpenCode wins on simplicity and SWE-bench score. Choose Hermes for capability, OpenCode for simplicity.
Pricing
| Hermes | OpenCode | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (BYO keys) | Free (BYO keys) |
| Billing | API costs only | API costs only |
Identical pricing. Both are free software that require your own API keys.
Features Head-to-Head
| Feature | Hermes | OpenCode |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-model | Yes | Yes |
| Cron/scheduling | Yes | No |
| Background tasks | Yes | No |
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Subagents | Yes | No |
| Credential guard | Yes | No |
| SWE-bench | Not tested | 88.0% |
| GitHub stars | 212K | 13K |
Where Hermes Wins
Features. Cron scheduling, background tasks, vision support, subagents, credential guard — Hermes has capabilities OpenCode doesn’t.
Community. 212K GitHub stars vs 13K. Hermes has a much larger community.
Automation. Built-in cron jobs and scheduled tasks. OpenCode is purely interactive.
Vision. Can process screenshots and visual content. OpenCode is text-only.
Where OpenCode Wins
Simplicity. OpenCode does fewer things, but does them well. Less configuration, less complexity.
SWE-bench. 88.0% verified score. Hermes hasn’t been officially benchmarked.
Focus. OpenCode is a pure coding agent. No cron, no vision, no background tasks — just code generation.
Performance. OpenCode’s lighter feature set means faster startup and lower resource usage.
When to Choose Which
Choose Hermes if:
- You want the most feature-complete free agent
- Cron scheduling and automation matter to you
- You need vision support
- You want subagent parallelism
- Community size matters
Choose OpenCode if:
- You want a simple, focused coding agent
- You prefer less configuration
- Verified benchmark performance matters
- You want the lightest possible tool
Bottom Line
Hermes is the Swiss Army knife — does everything, has every feature. OpenCode is the scalpel — focused, fast, does one thing well. Both are free. Choose based on whether you want capability or simplicity.