Bonus shelf · Always-on agents

OpenClaw

Open source, self-hosted gateway that turns any model into an always-available assistant you message from WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, iMessage, Teams and more, with scheduled jobs and tools.

Needs a developerFree plan

Visit docs.openclaw.ai (opens in a new tab) ↗

Our take Kratuva

Best for: Technical founders who want an assistant on their own hardware, reachable from the chat apps they already use, with full control of data and models.
Not for: Non-technical teams, or anyone who cannot take on securing a server that holds their chat credentials.

Price

From: Free and open source(MIT); you pay your model provider and your own hosting
Model: self-hosted; bring your own model API key
Free plan: Yes
Checked: 9 Oct 2026

Prices change. Check the vendor page before you buy.

What OpenClaw is good at

MIT licensed and run by the OpenClaw Foundation, a nonprofit: no paid tier and no telemetry by default beyond a version check you can turn off.
One Gateway serves many chat channels at once, with multi-agent routing, a browser for the agent, skills, and cron jobs, hooks and webhooks.
Works with the model provider you choose, including local model services.
Very large community: about 391,000 GitHub stars when checked.

Where OpenClaw breaks

You run and secure it yourself: keep the Gateway loopback-only behind SSH or Tailscale, and any non-loopback bind needs gateway auth.
Files under ~/.openclaw can hold channel credentials, OAuth tokens and session transcripts with private messages and tool output, readable by any process or user with disk access.
In a shared Slack, any allowed sender can make the agent call tools (exec, browser, files), and one sender's prompt injection can lead to data leaks; the docs say to keep personal-data agents private.
Needs Node 24.16+ or 26, your own model API key (and its costs), and an always-on host such as a VPS or home server for 24/7 use.

When a custom build beats OpenClaw

OpenClaw is itself the build-your-own option; a hosted agent beats it when nobody on the team will patch, monitor and lock down the Gateway.

Setup

Needs a developer. Plan for a developer to set it up and keep it running.

Sources

Price checked 9 Oct 2026. If something here is out of date, email indra@kratuva.com and we will fix it.

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Who runs this shop

Kratuva makes AI-first software. Our first product is Ruam, for teams that work apart. It shows how the working day went without screenshots or keystroke logging. Join the Ruam waitlist.

Occasionally we build with teams we like. Say hi: indra@kratuva.com.

Checked 9 Oct 2026

Every price and claim links to its source. Prices change often, so check the vendor's page before you buy. No affiliate links: nobody paid to be here. Logos belong to their owners and are shown only to name each tool, not as an endorsement.