OpenClaw hosting, explained
OpenClaw is the most capable open-source AI agent you can run yourself — and “run yourself” is exactly the part most people don’t want. Hosted OpenClaw means your agent lives on an always-on cloud machine that someone else sets up, secures, and keeps running. Here’s what that actually involves.
First, what OpenClaw is
OpenClaw is open-source (MIT-licensed) software that turns an AI model into a personal agent: something you message from Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, or another chat app you already use, that can actually do things — work with files, browse, run scheduled jobs, remember you between conversations. It runs as a single always-on process called the Gateway on a computer you choose, and it’s bring-your-own-key: the thinking is done by a model provider you pay directly, so no one sits between you and your agent’s brain.
That “computer you choose” is the whole question. An agent is only as available as its machine — and only as safe as its machine’s security. Run it on your laptop and it sleeps when you do; run it on a rented server and you’ve signed up to administer a Linux box running autonomous software. Hosted OpenClaw is the third answer.
What a host manages — and what stays yours
With hosted OpenClaw, the division of labor is clean. The host owns the machine and its operation:
The always-on computer
A private cloud machine that never sleeps, so your agent is reachable at 7am and working overnight.
Security
The gateway kept off the open internet, access that authenticates you, and a setup that’s audited — the whole checklist, maintained.
Backups
Your agent’s memory backed up automatically, with restores that have actually been tested.
Updates
Software versions pinned and upgrades handled deliberately — no surprise breakage from a moving “latest.”
And you keep the parts that make the agent yours:
- Your model key. You choose the AI provider and pay them directly for what your agent thinks. The host never marks up your model usage — and can’t lock you into a model.
- Your agent itself. Its name, personality, memory, and workspace are yours, built through OpenClaw’s own setup — hosted OpenClaw is still OpenClaw, with its native dashboard, not a lookalike wrapper.
- Your channels. You decide where it talks — Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, and the rest — from your agent’s own settings. (With early-access Everpod, this part is still your hands on the controls, with us on hand to help.)
What to look for in any OpenClaw host
Hosting an autonomous agent is security-sensitive hosting, and the questions worth asking any provider — including us — are specific:
- Is the gateway ever on the open internet? The only right answer is no — here’s why that rule is absolute. Access should go through an authenticated, private path.
- Do I share a machine with other customers? OpenClaw’s own trust model is one user per gateway, one boundary per machine. One customer per machine is the honest implementation.
- What happens when I cancel? A clear answer covers the machine, the agent’s memory, and the backups — deletion that leaves backups behind isn’t deletion.
- Whose model key is it? Bring-your-own-key keeps you the owner of your agent’s brain and its costs. Bundled model access is convenient but couples your agent to your host’s pricing.
How Everpod does it
Everpod is our answer to those questions. Your agent gets a pod: a private, always-on cloud computer of its own — one customer per pod, no exceptions. The gateway is never exposed to the open internet; you reach your agent’s native control panel through a private, authenticated path, signing in with your email. Versions are pinned, upgrades are managed, backups are automatic, and its memory survives restarts and reboots — we’ve tested exactly that. It’s $29/mo with your own model key, aimed today at early OpenClaw users who want the agent without the server. Cancelling deletes the pod, the memory, and the backups — we don’t hold on to your data.