This week Plus is $15 off the first paid month. Referral announced 2 Sep 2026 — Nous Research on X.

Independent guide · 2 September 2026

Hermes is free. Portal is a convenience tax. Sometimes you should pay it.

This is a field guide for people who already run agents — not a landing page for a $199 “we’ll set it up” shop, and not a fake Nous site. Hermes Agent is MIT. Nous Portal is the paid gateway that pairs with it. We write down when Plus is worth $20 and when you should just bring your own keys.

Who this is for

You if any of these are true:

You want a persistent agent (memory, skills, Telegram/Discord/Slack) and you’re choosing a runtime, not a chatbot.
You’re tired of five vendor accounts — Firecrawl, FAL, a browser vendor, TTS, plus a model lab — just to get tools working.
You already have OpenRouter or lab keys and need an honest “bundle vs a la carte” number, not a vibe.

You are not the audience if you want us to impersonate Nous, sell a setup package, or pretend a free signup pays the referrer. It doesn’t. See the disclosure at every CTA and in the footer.

Three notes, not a funnel

01 · Runtime

Hermes vs OpenClaw vs Cowork vs “just Cursor”

Decision table. Hermes is provider-agnostic with memory, self-written skills, and a messaging gateway. OpenClaw is the broader self-host + own-keys mesh. Claude Cowork is managed and per-seat. Cursor/Claude Code stay in the editor.

Open the comparison →

02 · Money

Portal Plus $20 / $22 vs OpenRouter a la carte

Plus buys $22 of credits for $20 (10% bonus) with a $10 rollover cap. The real Plus value is the Tool Gateway — search, images, browser, TTS — not the extra two dollars of credit.

Open the pricing note →

03 · Hands on

`hermes setup --portal`

One command: OAuth, pick a model, turn on the Tool Gateway. Official docs linked. A disclosed Plus CTA sits at the bottom, not in the first paragraph.

Open the setup guide →

Facts we will not fudge

Thing	Number (as of 2 Sep 2026)	Source
Hermes Agent	Free, MIT	github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent · hermes-agent.nousresearch.com
Portal Plus	$20 / mo → $22 credits · $10 rollover cap	portal.nousresearch.com
Portal Super	$100 / mo → $110 credits	Same. 10% bonus credits on paid tiers.
Portal Ultra	$200 / mo → $220 credits	Same.
Referral (new personal Plus only)	You: $15 off first paid month. Referrer: $10 API credit when they subscribe. Free signups do not pay.	Announcement, 2 Sep 2026 · Terms §5.7 bans self-referral.

We do not claim the first month is $5. $15 off a $20 plan is a first-month discount, not a rewritten list price. Portal can still charge $20 on month two.

If you already decided Plus is the path

Start a new personal Plus subscription through our referral and the first paid month is $15 off. That is the only CTA on this site, and it is optional. Read the comparison first if you haven’t.

Start Plus — $15 off first paid month Not sure yet — compare runtimes

This site uses a Nous Portal referral link. If you start a new personal Plus subscription through it, we may receive $10 in API credit. You get $15 off your first paid month. Unofficial, not affiliated with Nous Research.