Muse vs Hermes

Muse is Meta's new personal AI assistant and it's currently free 👀 Free AI personal assistant? You don't need to tell me twice!

Unlike a normal AI chatbot, Muse can actually complete tasks for you. It can shop, watch deals for you, fill out returns, forms, and about a zillion other things. It's also incredibly easy to use. If you can use Meta or Instagram, you can use Muse. It's just one long chat, and you can even connect your WhatsApp and chat with it right from there.

While I've used my fair share of AI tools for work, this is the first personal assistant I have. Every time something comes up, I tell Muse.

For example, I asked it to let me know when my favorite band will be in town, and to make my Black Friday wish list and monitor deals. My biggest win so far is around shopping.

I gave it a tight set of criteria to help me find a mineral sunscreen that wouldn't leave a white cast. I asked it to find Reels of real users using it too. And it did!

I'm excited to continue to use it.

• Easiest personal AI agent to use
• Works through a familiar chat
• Can research, browse websites, fill out forms, and complete tasks
• Finds useful Instagram content and Reels during product research
• Keeps working after you close the app
• Can handle recurring tasks and monitoring
• Available through WhatsApp
• Currently free to try

• Windows users need to use the browser because there isn't a Windows app
• Amazon and other websites may block it

Muse gets its own secure virtual computer and browser. This means it can visit websites, fill out forms, use your accounts with permission, etc.

My husband asked it to submit a warranty claim for a broken device, and Muse handled the process for him. It asks for approval before sensitive actions such as sending something or making a purchase, and you can review what it has done.

Muse can repeat tasks or monitor something without waiting for you to ask again.

You could have it watch for an appointment, track the price of an item, look for tickets, monitor a full class for an opening, or complete monthly administrative work.

Our meal-prep chef needed a simple way to send invoices, so she asked Muse to create and send them automatically on the first of each month. She didn't need to learn an invoicing platform or build an automation, she just told Muse what she needed!

Muse is currently free for most everyday use, but Meta hasn't published an exact number of free tasks or credits. When you reach the free limit, you can wait for it to refresh or upgrade.

• Free: Best for trying Muse with research, shopping, and basic personal-assistant tasks.
• Power: $20/month. Best for people who use Muse regularly and need more capacity.
• Maximum: $100/month. Best for heavy users running frequent or demanding tasks.

Hermes is an open-source AI agent that you host yourself. You install the software, connect an AI model and your chat apps, and configure it to perform tasks for you. Hermes is NOT FOR YOU if you are not technical. Do not buy into the propaganda that using Hermes is "cheaper" because the software is free. You need to pay for hosting, model usage, not to mention your time to maintain it and ensure it has proper secure guardrails in place.

Hermes is best for technical users who enjoy self-hosting and experimenting with open-source software. But if you're a business looking for an AI employee, you should not choose Hermes.

Our team employs two full-time engineers who could set up and manage Hermes, but it still wouldn't be a good use of their time.

• Free and open source
• Gives you control over the software and configuration
• Can run on your own hardware or server
• Works with chat apps such as Slack, Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp
• Highly customizable for technical users

• Complicated to install and configure
• Requires ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting
• Makes you responsible for security and reliability
• Sessions may stall, freeze, or need to be reset
• Server and AI model costs can add up
• Not practical for most nontechnical users or busy teams

Hermes is free, open source, and runs on your own hardware or server. This gives you more control over the software, data, and configuration than you would get from a managed AI assistant.

Sounds good right? Well be prepared to handle the setup, updates, security, reliability, and maintenance yourself. If you have no idea what this all means, skip Hermes.

Hermes can communicate through apps such as Slack, Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp. This allows you to interact with it inside the tools you already use instead of opening a separate AI app.

However, it isn't as comprehensive out of the box as a managed AI teammate. Most AI agents have already built thousands of integrations with third party apps so you're behind if you're using Hermes.

• Hermes software: Free and open source.
• AI model usage: Varies depending on the model and provider you connect.
• Hosting: Varies depending on whether you use your own hardware or rent a server.
• Setup and maintenance: The largest hidden cost, especially if you need an engineer or consultant to manage it.