OpenHands vs Sweep
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
OpenHands
Autonomous AI software engineering agent
VS
Sweep
AI assistant that turns issues into pull requests
| Feature | OpenHands | Sweep |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 39 · At risk |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Jupyter Notebook |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 89,007 | ★ 7,710 |
| First released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Devin, GitHub Copilot Workspace | GitHub Copilot Workspace |
What are OpenHands and Sweep?
OpenHands
OpenHands, formerly OpenDevin, is a platform for AI agents that can write code, run commands, and browse the web to complete software development tasks. It can be self-hosted and connected to local or remote models.
- Autonomous coding agent
- Sandboxed command execution
- Web browsing capability
- Pluggable model backends
Sweep
Sweep is an open-source AI developer assistant that reads bug reports and feature requests and produces code changes as pull requests. The core engine is open source and can be self-hosted for private repositories.
- Issue-to-PR automation
- Code search and edits
- Self-hostable engine
- Git platform integration
OpenHands vs Sweep: key differences
OpenHands is written in TypeScript, while Sweep is built with Jupyter Notebook. Licensing differs — MIT for OpenHands versus Apache-2.0 for Sweep. Sweep is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for OpenHands. OpenHands has the considerably larger community, at 89,007 GitHub stars versus 7,710.
Why pick each one
Choose OpenHands if…
- Autonomous task execution
- Works with many models
- Sandboxed Docker runtime
Watch out for
- Token costs add up
- Results can vary
Choose Sweep if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.7k GitHub stars
- Written in Jupyter Notebook
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenHands or Sweep better?
Neither is universally better. OpenHands has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenHands and Sweep free and open-source?
Yes. OpenHands is licensed under MIT and Sweep under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenHands and Sweep with Docker?
OpenHands: yes. Sweep: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, OpenHands or Sweep?
Sweep has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for OpenHands. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.