OpenClaw Pricing
All plans and pricing as of 2026-04-30
Self-Hosted (MIT)
- ✓Free and open source
- ✓Runs on your own machine
- ✓Bring your own LLM API key
- ✓All messaging integrations included
- ✓Skills library (SOUL.md configs)
LLM API Costs
- ✓Use Claude, GPT, DeepSeek, or local models
- ✓Costs depend on model and token volume
- ✓Typical power user: $20-$100/month in API fees
Is OpenClaw Worth the Price?
Value Score: 8/10
Overall Score: 7.6/10 · Technical users who will properly harden the deployment -- latest-patch version, firewall, no credentials with production write access, skill allow-list. If you can take operational responsibility for running a locally-deployed agent that holds credentials, the messaging-first UX and BYO-LLM flexibility are still genuinely valuable.
OpenClaw was the viral entry that defined the messaging-first personal agent category, and its UX ideas are broadly correct. But the March 2026 CVE disclosures -- 9 vulnerabilities including a CVSS 9.9 critical, with 135,000+ instances found exposed on public IPs -- revealed that the project's rapid growth outran its security engineering. Developer migration to Hermes Agent has been visible on r/LocalLLaMA and Hacker News throughout March and April. OpenClaw is not dead and the project is responding, but the honest read is: if you haven't already built deep operational trust in your OpenClaw deployment, Hermes Agent is the better default in April 2026. Revisit OpenClaw after two more release cycles when the security posture has hardened and the install-base has churned through the exposed instances.
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How OpenClaw Pricing Compares
| Tool | Free Tier | Starting Price | Value Score | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenClaw(this tool) | Yes | $0 | 8/10 | 7.6 |
| Hermes Agent | Yes | $0 | 9/10 | 8.4 |
| Perplexity Computer | No | $20/month | 6.5/10 | 8.4 |
| Perplexity Comet | Yes | $0 | 9.5/10 | 8.4 |
| Wingman (Emergent) | Yes | $0 | 8.5/10 | 8.1 |
| Manus AI | Yes | $0/month | 7/10 | 7.9 |