Comparison

Helmrig Agents vs Hermex

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Helmrig Agents

Features
Read full description

Helmrig is a remote development client for iPhone. It pairs with helmrig-server running on your own laptop and gives you the AI coding agents, terminal, and filesystem of that machine — over an end-to-end encrypted tunnel. FEATURES • AI coding agents — run Claude Code or Codex on your laptop. Tell the agent what to do in plain language; it reads files, runs commands, and edits code on your machine. The app shows the output, diffs of any proposed changes, and approval prompts before anything is applied. You bring your own subscription or API keys; Helmrig doesn't sell or proxy AI access. • Attach files — pull any file from your laptop into the agent conversation in one tap, so the agent has exactly the context it needs. • Terminal — full PTY shell on your laptop with ANSI colors and resize. Use whatever you've installed: bash, zsh, fish, tmux, vim, nano, htop. • Files — browse and view the laptop filesystem with syntax highlighting for common languages. • Multi-project — switch between active projects in one tap; each project keeps its own terminal session and AI thread. HOW IT WORKS 1. Install the server on your laptop: npx helmrig@latest 2. Open Helmrig on iPhone, scan the QR code shown in the server. 3. The pairing key is generated locally on your devices and never leaves them. After pairing, phone and laptop talk directly over LAN or NAT-traversal when possible. When direct connection fails, the encrypted tunnel falls back through one of our regional relays. Relays forward opaque ciphertext only — they cannot decrypt anything. REQUIREMENTS • Laptop: macOS or Linux with Node.js 20+ • iPhone: iOS 17+ PRIVACY No third-party SDKs. No analytics. No crash reporting. Helmrig servers never see code, files, terminal output, or AI conversations. Full policy at helmrig.app/privacy.html CONTACT hi@helmrig.dev Privacy Policy: https://www.helmrig.app/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.helmrig.app/terms.html

About

Hermex

This client app connects to your self-hosted AI agent, allowing you to manage conversations, review edits, and interact with tools directly from your iPhone or iPad. It offers features like live activities for ongoing tasks and a share extension for easy content staging.

Highlights
  • Connect to self-hosted AI agents
  • Manage conversations and streamed responses
  • Review file edits as diffs
  • Send photos and files
  • Switch between Bots and Sessions
  • Live Activities on Lock Screen/Dynamic Island
  • Share extension for content staging
Features
Read full description

Hermex is a native iPhone and iPad client for your self-hosted Hermes agent. It connects directly to your Hermes host. Existing Hermes Web UI servers keep working as legacy. Open existing sessions, start conversations, and follow streamed responses, tools, and reasoning as they arrive. Queue, steer, or stop an active run. Review file edits as diffs, browse workspace files, send photos and files, and dictate messages. Switch between Bots and Sessions, manage Kanban boards and Cards, browse Tasks, Skills, Memory, and Usage, and choose models, Profiles, and reasoning settings. Move to Hermes brings a Web UI server’s chats, drafts, and notifications over to your Hermes host. Live Activities keep working runs visible on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. Optional notifications let you know when work finishes or needs your attention. The share extension stages content from other apps for you to review and send. Agent execution happens on your configured server, not on the iPhone. Your server owns your conversations, tools, and workspace. Recent sessions and messages may be cached locally for read-only offline viewing; clear that cache from Settings. There is no Hermex-hosted agent backend, tracking, or analytics service. Optional push notifications use an open-source, self-hostable relay. Message previews are encrypted on your Hermes host and decrypted on your iPhone; the relay handles device tokens, notification metadata, and ciphertext, never message text, server URLs, or Hermes server credentials. Push is off until enabled. Hermex has no in-app account creation or in-app purchases. You need your own reachable Hermes server. Not affiliated with Nous Research.

Screenshots

Helmrig Agents4 screens
Hermex4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hermex at none against Helmrig Agents's 1. Hermex also leads on chart position (#29 vs unranked). Helmrig Agents's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Helmrig Agents sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $12.99 per month. Hermex asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Helmrig Agents ships an update fortnightly, Hermex every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Helmrig Agents versus Hermex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHelmrig AgentsHermex
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.8 (216 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—84.2% of reviews
Number of ratings—216 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
Best chart rank—#29 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNikita KislitsinUzair Ansar

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Helmrig Agents

Subscriptions1
  • Helmrig Pro14 Days trial$12.991 Month
None

Hermex

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Helmrig Agents free?
Helmrig Agents is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hermex free?
Hermex is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Helmrig Agents or Hermex have ads?
Neither Helmrig Agents nor Hermex shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Helmrig Agents or Hermex?
Helmrig Agents ships an update fortnightly, and Hermex every 2 weeks. Most recently, Helmrig Agents was updated on October 28, 2026 and Hermex on November 5, 2026.

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