Hermes Agent vs Surya
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Hermes Agent
The AI agent that grows with you
VS
Surya
Multilingual document OCR and layout analysis toolkit
| Feature | Hermes Agent | Surya |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | free | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, one-click | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 227,143 | ★ 21,223 |
| First released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Replaces | — | Google Cloud Vision, AWS Textract |
Why pick each one
Choose Hermes Agent if…
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- One-click install on common self-host platforms
- Mature project with 227.1k GitHub stars
Choose Surya if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 21.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Hermes Agent or Surya better?
Hermes Agent is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Surya if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Hermes Agent and Surya free and open-source?
Yes. Hermes Agent is licensed under free and Surya under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hermes Agent and Surya with Docker?
Hermes Agent: yes. Surya: check the project docs for container support.