OpenClaw pricing

OpenClaw itself costs nothing. It is open source under the MIT licence, published by the OpenClaw Foundation, and there is no paid tier, seat or subscription for the software. So why do people search for OpenClaw pricing? Because running it is not free, and the bill arrives in three separate places.

Line one: the model

Every turn the agent takes is a call to a model, billed by the token by whoever runs that model. This is the line that surprises people: an agent re-reads its instructions, tools and recent history on every turn, the heartbeat keeps thinking when nothing is happening, and an expensive model on a routine job multiplies all of it. The cost calculator prices a month of usage at live rates, model by model, so the estimate is yours.

Line two: somewhere to run it

OpenClaw has to be running to be useful, which means a machine that stays on: your own computer, a VPS you rent and maintain, or a managed host. Hosted OpenClaw on Diali is Diali’s version of the last one: a per-assistant plan that includes hosting, an isolated instance in the EU, the channels, the vault and a monthly balance of AI credits, so the first two lines arrive as one.

Line three: your time

The line nobody itemises. Certificates, updates that break what worked last week, a gateway that stops answering, keys sitting on a box. It is real money if you value your hours, and it is the line managed hosting exists to remove. Our page on your own server sets out honestly when running your own server is still worth it.

~$30/month vs. hours of my time.

What Diali charges, and where to read it

Plans are per assistant and differ by workspace size, included AI credits and how often the assistant checks in on its own; both engines cost the same. The numbers live on the pricing page, rendered from the live catalog, and are not repeated here so this page cannot go stale. There is no free trial; the first payment is covered by a money-back guarantee you request from the dashboard.

So what will it cost you?

• Run it yourself: hosting for the box, plus the model bill, plus your time.
• Managed: one plan that includes hosting and a credit balance, plus whatever model usage goes beyond the balance.
• Either way, the model line is the one you control: a cheaper model for routine work, a sane heartbeat, and repeat context that is cached.

The heartbeat deserves its own explanation, because it is the setting that quietly decides whether an idle agent costs anything at all: what the OpenClaw heartbeat does and costs.