Hermes Agent VPS
Self-host Hermes Agent, the open-source AI agent by Nous Research, on your own VPS. EasyNode installs it for you, so it runs 24/7 and answers you on Telegram, Discord or Slack while your laptop is off.
Included for free on every VPS. From $8.90/mo. Paid in crypto or by card. No KYC.
Hermes Agent VPS in 30 seconds
What you get
A VPS with Hermes Agent installed and its web dashboard ready. You sign in with the credentials shown in your Nodefolio, add a model API key and start chatting.
Price
Hermes Agent costs nothing extra. You only pay for the VPS, from $8.90/mo for 4 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM, plus your own LLM usage.
Official requirements
1 CPU core and 1 GB of RAM minimum, 2 cores and 2 to 4 GB recommended. Every EasyNode plan is above that.
Payment and privacy
Pay in crypto or by card, no identity check. Your memory, skills and keys stay on your VPS, and Hermes sends no telemetry.
What is Hermes Agent?
Hermes Agent is an open-source AI agent built by Nous Research and released under the MIT license. It went public in February 2026 and passed 250,000 GitHub stars by October 2026, which makes it one of the most followed agent projects.
Its promise is an agent that improves with use. Hermes keeps a memory it curates itself, searches its past sessions, and turns complex tasks into reusable skills that it refines over time. Skills follow the open agentskills.io format.
It ships with more than 40 tools, MCP client support, subagents and a built-in cron scheduler. A single gateway connects it to Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, email and Home Assistant.
Hermes works with OpenRouter, Nous Portal, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including local models served by Ollama, vLLM or llama.cpp.
Why run Hermes Agent on a VPS?
Always on
Scheduled jobs such as daily reports, nightly backups or weekly audits only run if the machine is awake. A VPS never sleeps.
Reachable from your phone
The Nous Research README puts it simply: run it on a small VPS and talk to it from Telegram while it works on a cloud machine.
Isolated from your personal data
An agent with terminal and browser access is safer on a dedicated server than on the laptop that holds your wallets, passwords and files.
Pairs with Hermes Desktop
Nous Research also publishes Hermes Desktop for macOS, Windows and Linux. Recent versions can connect to a remote Hermes, so the desktop app can drive the agent running on your VPS.
Hermes Agent requirements and EasyNode plans
The official Docker documentation asks for 1 CPU core, 1 GB of RAM and 500 MB of disk at minimum, and recommends 2 cores, 2 to 4 GB of RAM and 2 GB of disk. Browser automation needs at least 2 GB of RAM. The Starter plan is enough for one agent; pick a larger plan if you also run local models or other services.
| Plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Good for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 4 vCPU | 8 GB | 100 GB SSD | One Hermes agent with browser tools | $8.90/mo |
| Basic | 6 vCPU | 12 GB | 200 GB SSD | Several profiles, heavier browser automation | $11.90/mo |
| Pro | 8 vCPU | 24 GB | 300 GB SSD | Hermes plus a small local model or other services | $22.90/mo |
| Starter NVMe | 4 vCPU | 8 GB | 150 GB NVMe | Faster disk for large session history and skills | $21.90/mo |
All plans include full root access, unlimited bandwidth, DDoS protection and 6 regions: Europe, UK, US, Japan, Australia and India. Compare every VPS plan.
How to install Hermes Agent on a VPS yourself
If you prefer to do it by hand, the official installation guide comes down to these steps on a Linux server:
- Create a non-root user for the agent, then run the official installer as that user:
curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash. - Reload your shell and check the install with
hermes doctor. - Choose a provider, a model and an API key with
hermes model. - Connect Telegram, Discord or another platform with
hermes gateway setup, and set an allowlist of user IDs. - Start the gateway with
hermes gateway start, and runsudo loginctl enable-lingerfor that user so it survives logout. - Or use the official Docker image
nousresearch/hermes-agentwith a volume on/opt/dataand--restart unless-stopped.
Run it yourself or with EasyNode
Same agent, two ways to get there.
- Manually: rent a server, create a dedicated user, run the installer, configure the gateway, secure the dashboard and keep up with releases (v0.22 shipped in October 2026).
- With EasyNode: pick a VPS, tick Hermes in the add-ons, pay in crypto or by card. Hermes is installed with its dashboard and credentials. You add your model API key from the dashboard, no terminal needed.
Keep your Hermes Agent safe
The Hermes security guide is clear that its guards are not a sandbox against a hostile agent. On a VPS, follow its main recommendations:
- Never run the gateway as root.
- Set an allowlist for each messaging platform, or use DM pairing. Without an allowlist, the gateway refuses everyone.
- Keep approvals on manual or smart, and on deny for cron and unattended jobs.
- Use the Docker terminal backend for gateways: the local backend has no isolation.
- Keep API keys in
~/.hermes/.envwithchmod 600, and do not expose the dashboard without authentication.
Hermes Agent or OpenClaw?
Both are open-source, MIT-licensed agents you can self-host. OpenClaw is written in TypeScript and built around a resident gateway that owns your channels and sessions. Hermes is written in Python, centered on its agent loop, and stands out with self-generated skills and searchable memory.
Moving is easy: hermes import-agent openclaw imports OpenClaw memories, skills and settings. Both agents are included for free on every EasyNode VPS. See our OpenClaw VPS page.
Hermes Agent VPS FAQ
Is Hermes Agent free?
Yes. It is open source under the MIT license. You pay for the VPS and for the LLM API you choose; local models cost nothing.
How much RAM does Hermes Agent need?
1 GB minimum, 2 to 4 GB recommended, and at least 2 GB with browser tools. The EasyNode Starter plan has 8 GB.
Which models can I use?
OpenRouter, Nous Portal, OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including Ollama or vLLM.
Where is my data stored?
In ~/.hermes/ on your VPS, or /opt/data with Docker. Hermes has no telemetry.
Can I move my agent from OpenClaw?
Yes, with hermes import-agent openclaw. Add --dry-run to preview what will be imported.
Do I need KYC to rent the VPS?
No. EasyNode does not ask for any identity verification. You pay in crypto or by card.
Official Hermes Agent links
Information checked against official Hermes Agent sources on October 31, 2026.