You want $0 and people text your agent first
The Free plan covers up to 10 users on shared numbers, Pro covers 100 for $25 a month, and Hermes Agent sets it up with one command. Telegram is on every plan; WhatsApp and calls are on Business.
Claw Messenger vs Photon
Photon or Claw Messenger for your AI agent?
Pick Photon if you want to start free: it costs $0 for up to 10 users, ships inside Hermes Agent, and suits agents that people text first. Pick Claw Messenger, from $5 a month, when your agent has to send the first message to a known contact, or runs on OpenClaw, LangChain, CrewAI, or n8n.
Start the 7-day trialCard required. Cancel before renewal.
Claw Messenger agent pathLive
Your agent needs to text first for $5
Every plan can message a registered number first, with automatic RCS and SMS fallback. Photon puts first-contact messaging on Business at $250 per line per month.
Side by side
Photon and Claw Messenger compared
| Decision | Photon | Claw Messenger |
|---|---|---|
| Prices checked | Checked 6 November 2026, photon.codes/pricing | Checked 6 November 2026, clawmessenger.com/pricing |
| Free tier | $0 for up to 10 users on managed shared numbers | None. 7-day trial, card required |
| Paid starting point | $25/month Pro, up to 100 users | $5/month for 250 messages and 1 registered number |
| Higher tiers | Business $250 per line per month; Enterprise custom | $15 for 2,000, $25 for 6,000, $50 for 15,000 messages a month |
| Message limits | Unlimited daily messages with Auto Scale; the Hermes guide lists a free quota of 5,000 messages per server per day | Monthly allowance, counting sent and received messages |
| Who can text first | Free and Pro: the person texts first. Business: up to 50 new contacts per line per day | Your agent, to any registered number. New conversations pause at 20 recipients per rolling 24 hours |
| Sending number | Free and Pro: a pooled number per user. Business: a number not shared with other customers | Assigned automatically and shared across accounts. Agency sub-accounts get their own visible number |
| Channels | iMessage with RCS and SMS fallback; Telegram; WhatsApp and calls on Business | iMessage with automatic RCS and SMS fallback |
| Hermes Agent | Built-in channel via hermes photon setup; runs a local Node sidecar | hermes-imessage Python package; replies over an outbound WebSocket |
| Other agent paths | TypeScript SDK; open-source core you can self-host on your own Mac | OpenClaw plugin, n8n, LangChain, CrewAI, MCP server package, REST, WebSocket |
| Group chats | Full group messaging API listed on Business | Growth plan and up (needs 2 registered numbers besides the agent) |
At a glance
Photon free tier: $0 for up to 10 users on managed shared numbers.
Photon Pro: $25/month for up to 100 users.
Photon Business: $250 per line per month for a number not shared with other customers.
Claw Messenger entry plan: $5/month for 250 messages, sent and received.
Claw Messenger free tier: None. 7-day trial, card required.
Texting first: Photon shared lines wait for the person to text first. Claw Messenger can text a registered number first on every plan.
Hermes Agent: Photon is a built-in channel. Claw Messenger installs the hermes-imessage package.
Mac needed: No, for either.
Checked 6 November 2026 on Photon's pricing page and the Hermes Agent Photon guide.
When Photon is the better pick
You want to pay nothing. Photon Free covers up to 10 users. Claw Messenger has no free tier.
Your users text the agent first. A personal assistant or a support line works on Photon's shared numbers. Claw Messenger only routes inbound messages from numbers you register or pair (1 to 50 registered numbers by plan), so it is not a public number anyone can text.
You run Hermes and want the official channel. Photon has its own page in the Hermes docs and a setup command built into Hermes.
You need more than iMessage. Photon adds Telegram, and WhatsApp and calls on Business. It also has an open-source core you can run on a Mac you own.
When Claw Messenger fits better
The agent must start the conversation. Reminders, follow-ups, and check-ins go to people who have not texted the line. Photon's Hermes guide says a shared line can only message a number after that number texts it first. Claw Messenger sends first to registered numbers from the $5 plan.
You want a fixed monthly bill. Plans run from $5 to $50 for 250 to 15,000 messages, with no per-message fees on standard plans. See plans and limits.
Your agent is not on Hermes. Claw Messenger has an OpenClaw plugin and packages for n8n, LangChain, CrewAI, and MCP. See the quickstart.
Hermes Agent in Docker without a Mac
With Photon: run hermes gateway setup and pick Photon iMessage, or hermes photon setup --phone +1…. Setup logs in, registers your phone, prints the line to text, and installs the sidecar. On read-only Docker images the sidecar moves to a writable folder under ~/.hermes. Then text the line from your phone.
With Claw Messenger: install hermes-imessage into the Hermes environment, run hermes tools enable hermes-claw-messenger, add the API key to ~/.hermes/.env, and start the gateway. The Hermes setup guide has every command.
Neither needs a tunnel or public URL. Either way, setup is done when a reply from your phone reaches the agent.
Questions buyers ask
Is Photon free? Yes. Photon's Free plan costs $0 for up to 10 users on managed shared numbers, and its pricing FAQ describes it as free for personal use. Pro is $25 a month for up to 100 users. Prices checked 6 November 2026.
Is Claw Messenger cheaper than Photon? Not to start. Photon has a $0 plan, and Claw Messenger has no free tier: plans start at $5 a month for 250 messages after a 7-day trial that needs a card. Claw Messenger costs less when your agent must send the first message to someone who has not texted it, because Photon offers that on Business at $250 per line per month.
What is the easiest way to connect Hermes Agent to iMessage without a Mac? Photon. It is built into Hermes: run hermes gateway setup and pick Photon, or run hermes photon setup. Your contacts text the assigned line first. If the agent must start conversations, Claw Messenger's hermes-imessage package does that from the $5 plan.
Do Photon or Claw Messenger need a public webhook URL? No. Photon's Hermes channel holds a gRPC stream through a small local Node sidecar. Claw Messenger sends replies over an outbound WebSocket connection, so an agent in Docker or behind a home router needs no tunnel.
Which fits a SaaS where every customer gets an assistant? Photon Pro covers up to 100 users for $25 a month, each given a number from Photon's pool, and users text first. Claw Messenger's invite-only Agency tier creates one sub-account per customer through the API, each with its own visible sending number, at $199 a month per sub-account plus $250 one-time onboarding.
About this comparison
Claw Messenger publishes this page. We sell one of the products compared.
Photon figures come from photon.codes/pricing and the Hermes Agent Photon guide. Claw Messenger figures come from our pricing page. Checked 6 November 2026. Where a provider does not publish a figure, we leave it out rather than guess.
Prices change. If something here is out of date, contact us and we will correct it.
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