How much does OpenClaw cost per month?

OpenClaw itself is free and open source. The main costs are LLM API usage ($10-40/month for most users) and VPS hosting ($5-10/month). Total self-hosted cost is typically $15-50/month. Managed hosting through Remote OpenClaw starts at $600 one-time or $600/month for ongoing support.

Which AI model is cheapest for OpenClaw?

DeepSeek V3 is currently the cheapest cloud model for OpenClaw at $0.28 per million input tokens. For zero API cost, local models via Ollama run entirely on your hardware with no per-token charges.

Can I run OpenClaw for free?

Yes. Running OpenClaw on your own Mac or PC with Ollama costs $0. Oracle Cloud offers a free-tier VPS with 4 OCPU and 24GB RAM that can run OpenClaw indefinitely at no cost.

How do OpenClaw API costs compare between Claude and GPT?

Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3/$15 per million input/output tokens. GPT-4o costs $2.50/$10. GPT-5 Nano is cheapest at $0.05/$0.40. For 50 messages/day, Claude costs about $25-35/month and GPT-4o about $15-25/month.

Free Tool

OpenClaw Cost Calculator

Estimate your monthly OpenClaw costs. Compare all AI models side by side, see self-hosted vs managed pricing, and share your results.

Primary AI Model

Secondary Model (optional)

Routing split — Primary 70% / Secondary 30%

Route complex tasks to your primary model and routine tasks to the cheaper secondary model.

VPS Hosting

Messages per day: 50

Tokens per message: 2,500

Agents: 1

Input/Output split: 40% / 60%

Include automated tasks (heartbeats, cron jobs, inbox scans) — adds ~30% to token usage

Daily

API + hosting

Monthly

Total estimated

Yearly

Projected

Cost Breakdown

Component	Detail	Monthly

Compare All Models at Your Usage

Model	Input $/1M	Output $/1M	Monthly API	Total w/ Hosting

Self-Hosted vs Remote OpenClaw Managed

Your DIY Cost

$0/mo

+ 3-6 hrs/mo of your time for maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting

Remote OpenClaw Managed

$600/mo

All-in: deployment, security hardening, monitoring, updates, dedicated Slack support. Zero maintenance time.

Share Your Results

Email me this cost breakdown + the Production Checklist

Get your personalised cost estimate and the free 16-step OpenClaw Production Checklist delivered to your inbox.

Want someone to handle all of this for you?

Remote OpenClaw deploys, secures, and maintains production OpenClaw systems. Skip the setup — go live the same day.

Book a free strategy call → View managed plans → Join the Community →