# Hermes Agent vs SOAT: Feature Comparison

> Hermes Agent and SOAT compared on 15 agent capabilities, 7 vs 12 native, each rating linked to its source.

# SOAT vs Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent is an agent framework (MIT, self-hosted). SOAT is agent infrastructure (Apache-2.0, self-hosted). Of the 15 capabilities the [benchmark](/benchmark) tracks, Hermes Agent covers 7 natively and SOAT 12.

## At a glance

| | Hermes Agent | SOAT |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Type | an agent framework | agent infrastructure |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Deployment | self-hosted | self-hosted |
| Native capabilities | 7 of 15 | 12 of 15 |
| Last verified | 2026-08-14 | 2026-08-14 |

## Where each one leads

- **Hermes Agent** is native where SOAT is not: channels, code execution, skill learning.
- **SOAT** is native where Hermes Agent is not: orchestration, identity & governance, observability, data & secrets, evaluation, multi-tenancy, declarative deployment, versioning & rollout.

## What Hermes Agent is

Open-source agent runtime from Nous Research with a built-in learning loop (skills from experience), agent-curated memory, 40+ tools plus MCP, and a multi-platform gateway (Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, CLI). [Hermes Agent documentation](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent).

## Capability by capability

### Agent runtime

_Agent loop, sessions, and generation lifecycle._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** Agent loop with subagent spawning, skill learning, and 300+ LLMs via multiple providers. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** Agents, sessions, chats, and generations with full lifecycle tracking. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/agents))

### Orchestration

_Multi-step pipelines, workflows, and triggers._

- **Hermes Agent: Partial.** Cron scheduler for unattended automations and parallel subagents; no declarative DAG/workflow engine. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** DAG orchestrations, workflow state machines, durable tasks, and triggers (manual, webhook, schedule). ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/orchestrations))

### Knowledge & memory

_Documents, embeddings, semantic search, and recall._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** Agent-curated memory, persistent user profiles, cross-session recall, and full-text search over past conversations. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** Documents with per-chunk embeddings, named memories, unified semantic search, and ingestion rules for PDFs, images, and audio. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/knowledge))

### Tools & integration

_Tool calling, MCP, providers, and webhooks._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** 40+ built-in tools, MCP server support, and seven terminal/sandbox backends. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** HTTP, MCP, client, and agent-to-agent tools; model routes with failover; webhooks; any LLM provider. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/tools))

### Identity & governance

_IAM, guardrails, approvals, quotas, and audit._

- **Hermes Agent: Absent.** Single-operator model; no multi-tenant IAM, policies, quotas, approvals, or audit log.
- **SOAT: Native.** AWS-inspired IAM, actors, scoped API keys, guardrails, human approvals, quotas, and an append-only audit log. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/iam))

### Observability

_Traces, activity, usage, and failure queues._

- **Hermes Agent: Partial.** Batch trajectory generation and research-focused evaluation tooling; no structured trace/usage/audit model. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** Traces of every tool call and model response, activity feed, usage/cost tracking, and an exceptions queue. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/traces))

### Data & secrets

_File storage and encrypted secrets._

- **Hermes Agent: Absent.** No managed file storage or encrypted secrets store.
- **SOAT: Native.** File storage over local/S3/GCS backends and encrypted secrets storage. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/files))

### Evaluation

_Datasets, scorers, and eval-gated improvement._

- **Hermes Agent: Partial.** Batch trajectory generation for model training and research eval tools; not a dataset/scorer eval product. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Native.** Datasets, scorers, and scored runs; eval-gated promotion of agent versions. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/evaluations))

### Channels

_Built-in gateways to messaging platforms and UIs._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** Single gateway to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, and CLI with cross-platform conversation continuity. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Absent.** Surfaces are REST, MCP, CLI, and SDK — no built-in gateways to messaging platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, or Telegram.

### Code execution

_Sandboxed code or terminal runtimes for agents._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** Seven terminal backends: local, Docker, SSH, Singularity, Modal, Daytona, and Vercel Sandbox. ([source](https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent))
- **SOAT: Absent.** Tool types are HTTP, MCP, client, and agent-to-agent — no built-in sandboxed code or terminal runtime.

### Human-in-the-loop

_Pausing a run for human approval, then resuming it._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** Commands matching a dangerous-pattern list pause for explicit operator approval with once, session, always, and deny responses, plus code-based pairing approval. ([source](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/security))
- **SOAT: Native.** Approvals are a first-class human-decision queue with frozen evidence, and guardrails classify each tool call so risky actions pause for a decision. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/approvals))

### Multi-tenancy

_Projects or workspaces scoping resources and permissions._

- **Hermes Agent: Absent.** Single-operator design scoped to a working directory, with no projects, workspaces, or org-level scoping of resources and permissions.
- **SOAT: Native.** Projects are multi-tenant namespaces scoping every resource, with IAM policies and quotas enforced per project. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/projects))

### Declarative deployment

_Templates that provision agent resources as one stack._

- **Hermes Agent: Absent.** Ships Docker and Nix files for installing the runtime, but no declarative provisioning of agent resources with a dependency graph or plan/apply.
- **SOAT: Native.** Formations provision providers, memories, tools, agents, orchestrations, and webhooks from one template, resolving refs into a dependency graph with tracked operations. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/modules/formations))

### Versioning & rollout

_Agent versions, canary rollout, gated promotion._

- **Hermes Agent: Absent.** Only a binary update command; no immutable agent definition versions, aliases, staged rollout, or rollback.
- **SOAT: Native.** Every config change is archived as an append-only agent version, with canary rollout to a slice of traffic and eval-gated promotion. ([source](https://soat.ttoss.dev/docs/tutorials/agent-versioning-and-canary-rollout))

### Skill learning

_Agents authoring reusable skills from their own experience._

- **Hermes Agent: Native.** A skill management tool creates and patches skill files after complex tasks or error recovery, and a background review stages further skill changes after a session. ([source](https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/skills))
- **SOAT: Absent.** Memories and knowledge store retrievable context, but agents do not author or refine reusable skills from their own experience.

## How this is rated

Each rating comes from the public documentation linked beside it: **Native** is built in, **Via plugin** needs an add-on, **Partial** covers part of the capability, **Absent** is not offered. Every solution side by side is on the [benchmark](/benchmark). A rating that is out of date is a bug: [open an issue](https://github.com/ttoss/soat/issues).