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OpenClaw
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Review · AI agents

OpenClaw review: pricing, strengths and weaknesses

Technical users hosting a personal agent and managing its permissions, models and security.

Open source, freeAI agents
Jérémie Chiari
Jérémie Chiari
Founder, runs a training consultancy and an AI e-learning SaaSUpdated September 26, 2026 · Prices checked on the vendors’ sites

The score in detail

Our scoring grid
PriceWeight 25 %
Free software; AI model usage is billed separately.
Free plan and trialWeight 15 %
Everything is free under MIT, with no paid edition.
Ease of useWeight 20 %
Setup, API keys and security settings are on you.
FeaturesWeight 25 %
Acts on your machine, 20+ chat apps, memory, any model.
Data and GDPRWeight 15 %
Data stays with you; messages go to your AI provider.

Plans and prices

Open source (MIT)$0free software; hosting and AI model calls billed by third parties

MIT license. An assistant that runs on your computer or server, connected to 20+ messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, iMessage, Signal), apps for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux, hosted or local models. Per the publisher: no paid tier and no hosted service.

Free plan: Fully free software under the MIT license, with no paid edition. Calls to the AI model you pick (your own API key) and any server you rent are paid to third parties.

Strengths

  • Free under the MIT license, with no paid tier
  • Controlled from 20+ messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Telegram
  • Memory and credentials stored on your own machine

Weaknesses

  • By default, tools run directly on the host machine, with no sandbox
  • Incoming messages can carry prompt injection: security is yours to configure
  • AI model costs are paid separately, with your own API keys

Data and GDPR

Data hosting
On your own hardware: state, memory and credentials stay on the machine running OpenClaw (the ~/.openclaw folder). Messages processed by the AI go to the model provider you pick, unless you use a local model.
GDPR
No GDPR policy or DPA published: the publisher runs no hosted service. By default only a daily version check is sent to the foundation (version, OS, Node.js, architecture), and it can be turned off; anonymous statistics are opt-in. Security audit carried out by Trail of Bits.
Self-hosting
Yes

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