Nous Research just raised $90M and launched paid business plans. The agent itself is still open source. Here is exactly what costs nothing, what doesn't, and how to keep your bill small.
On October 7, Nous Research announced a $90M Series B and launched Hermes for Businesses. Within a day, the same question was everywhere: is Hermes Agent about to stop being free?
Short answer: no, not today. Hermes Agent is still released under the MIT license. The latest version, v0.22.2, shipped on October 15 with the same license as every release before it. The README still says Hermes works with any provider you want, and that "that's not changing".
What Nous sells is everything around the agent: hosting, a model subscription and business features. That's where "free" gets complicated, so here is the full picture.
What changed in October
Three things happened close together, which is why people got nervous.
- The raise. A $90M Series B led by Robot Ventures, at a reported $1.5B valuation.
- Hermes for Businesses. Hermes Business adds one shared credit balance with per-member spending caps and a shared skill library. Hermes Enterprise runs the whole stack on a company's own infrastructure or private cloud, with single sign-on. Nous hasn't published prices for either.
- Hermes Cloud and Nous Portal. Hosted, always-on agents billed per day, and model subscriptions from $20 to $200 a month.
None of these change the open-source agent. They're paid ways to run it.
What's free and what you pay for
Hermes Agent is free software. Running an agent still costs money in two places: somewhere to run it, and a model for it to think with.
| Part | Costs nothing | Costs money |
|---|---|---|
| The agent (CLI, Desktop app, messaging gateway) | Yes, all MIT-licensed in one repo | Never, for the software itself |
| Hosting | Your own computer | A VPS (Hostinger lists plans from $6.49 a month), or Hermes Cloud per day |
| Models | Local models through Ollama or another local endpoint | API keys per token, or a subscription |
| Tools (search, images, voice, browser) | Tools you wire up with your own accounts' allowances | Nous's Tool Gateway via a paid Portal plan, or each service's API |
| Business features | n/a | Hermes Business and Enterprise, pricing not published |
So the honest answer to "is Hermes Agent free?" is: the software is free, the running isn't, unless you run it on your own machine with a local model.
Will Hermes Agent become paid?
Nobody outside Nous can promise that, and Nous hasn't made a formal pledge. But the license gives you real protection:
- Every version already released under MIT stays MIT. You can keep using, changing and redistributing it, even commercially.
- If a future version ever changed license, the existing code could still be forked and maintained by the community.
- Nous's business model, as announced, is selling governance, private deployment and hosting to companies, not charging individuals for the agent.
The more realistic risk isn't a paywall. It's that the most convenient features, like the Tool Gateway or one-login access to 300+ models, sit behind a Portal subscription. You can always do the same work with your own keys. It just takes more setup.
The cheapest ways to run Hermes Agent
Your own computer and a local model
Install Hermes, point it at Ollama or another local endpoint, and you pay nothing beyond electricity. The catch is quality and uptime: small local models are weaker at long tool-calling loops, and your agent sleeps when your laptop does.
A small VPS and your own API key
A VPS from about $6.49 a month keeps the agent online. You pay your model provider per token, with no middle layer. Our Hermes Agent Docker install guide walks through it. You handle updates, security and restarts yourself.
Hermes Cloud and a Portal plan
No server at all. Instances bill per day while running, and a stopped instance costs about 3 cents a day for storage. Inference and tools come on top, from your Nous credit. Our Hermes Cloud pricing breakdown works out a real month.
If none of those fit, BetterClaw hosts the agent for a flat monthly fee and runs on your own model keys with zero markup. Compare BetterClaw plans.
Subscription traps to know about
Hermes lets you sign in with some consumer subscriptions instead of an API key. What each one actually pays for varies a lot, and Hermes's own docs call this the most common source of billing surprises.
| Subscription | Works with Hermes? | What it actually uses |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT plan | Yes, via ChatGPT or Codex subscription sign-in | Your plan's Codex usage. Hermes Agent was a launch partner for OpenAI's plan usage in third-party tools |
| Claude Max | Yes, via Anthropic sign-in | Only the extra usage credits you've bought on top of Max, never the base Max allowance |
| Claude Pro | No | Use an Anthropic API key instead |
| SuperGrok or X Premium+ | Yes | Your subscription quota, though xAI has rejected some standard SuperGrok subscribers with HTTP 403 |
| Gemini consumer plans | No documented path | The Gemini provider takes an API key only |
The Claude Max row catches the most people. Every Hermes request bills as extra usage, even while your included Max allowance sits untouched. If you're on Max, the monthly API credits Anthropic now includes are usually the better route; our Claude Max API credits guide explains how to use them.
So, is Hermes Agent worth it at $0?
For tinkering, learning and personal automations, yes. The software is excellent, it's actively maintained (three releases between October 13 and 15 alone), and the license is as permissive as it gets.
For an agent that has to be online every day, the real cost is the hosting, the model and the hours you spend keeping it running. If that's where your time goes, our Hermes Agent alternative guide and the OpenClaw vs Hermes comparison cover the other options.
Want an always-on agent without the upkeep? Deploy your first BetterClaw agent. Plans start at $19 a month with a 7-day money-back guarantee, and you keep your own model keys.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hermes Agent free?
Yes. Hermes Agent is open-source software under the MIT license, and downloading and running it costs nothing. You still pay for hosting, unless you use your own computer, and for models, unless you run them locally.
Is Hermes Agent open source?
Yes. The full source, including the Desktop app, is on GitHub under the MIT license, which allows personal and commercial use, changes and redistribution.
Will Hermes Agent stay free after the $90M raise?
Nous hasn't announced any license change. Its new paid products, Hermes for Businesses, Hermes Cloud and Nous Portal, are ways to host and run the agent. Released versions stay MIT-licensed regardless.
Do I need a Nous Portal subscription to use Hermes Agent?
No. Hermes works with any supported provider, including your own API keys and local models. Portal is optional and bundles 300+ models and the Tool Gateway under one login.
Is Hermes Desktop free?
Yes. Hermes Desktop lives in the same MIT-licensed repository as the agent, so the same terms apply.
How much does Hermes Agent cost per month?
It ranges from nothing, on your own computer with a local model, to a few dollars a month for a VPS plus your model usage, to a Nous Portal plan from $20 a month. Model usage is usually the biggest part of the bill.
