Self-Hosting OpenClaw vs. Clawctl: Complete Comparison (2026)

Self-Hosting OpenClaw vs. Clawctl: Complete Comparison (2026)

You want to run OpenClaw in production. You have two options:

1. Self-host — Deploy and manage OpenClaw yourself
2. Managed — Use Clawctl's managed runtime

This guide provides an honest comparison to help you decide.

The Quick Answer

Choose self-hosting if:

• You have dedicated DevOps/security resources
• You need custom infrastructure configurations
• You want full control over every component
• Compliance requires on-premises deployment

Choose managed if:

• Your priority is shipping product, not managing infrastructure
• You need enterprise-grade security without building it
• You don't have dedicated security engineering
• You want to minimize ongoing maintenance

Comparison: Security

Self-Hosted Security

What you get out of the box: Almost nothing.

OpenClaw's defaults are designed for local development:

• Gateway binds to all interfaces (0.0.0.0)
• Localhost trusted without authentication
• Credentials stored in plaintext
• No audit logging
• No egress control
• No approval workflows

What you need to build:

• Network hardening (loopback binding, token auth)
• Reverse proxy configuration
• Credential encryption
• Audit logging system
• Network egress control
• Approval workflow engine

Estimated effort: 60-100+ hours for a competent engineer

Risk: One misconfiguration and you're vulnerable. 42,665 exposed instances found—most were misconfigured self-hosted deployments.

Managed (Clawctl) Security

What you get out of the box:

• Loopback binding + token authentication
• Encrypted credential vault
• Comprehensive audit logging (50+ event types)
• Network egress allowlist
• 70+ high-risk actions blocked by default
• Prompt injection defenses
• Security anomaly detection

What you need to build: Nothing security-related.

Estimated effort: 60 seconds to deploy

Comparison: Setup Time

Self-Hosted Setup

Managed (Clawctl) Setup

Comparison: Ongoing Maintenance

Self-Hosted Maintenance

Regular tasks:

• Update OpenClaw versions
• Patch security vulnerabilities
• Rotate credentials
• Monitor for anomalies
• Review and rotate logs
• Update dependencies
• Fix breaking changes

Estimated ongoing effort: 5-10 hours/month

Incident response: Your responsibility. Expect occasional weekends debugging issues.

Managed (Clawctl) Maintenance

Regular tasks:

• Review audit logs (optional)
• Update approval rules as needed

Estimated ongoing effort: 0-2 hours/month

Incident response: Handled by Clawctl team. You get notified if action is needed.

Comparison: Capabilities

Self-Hosted Capabilities

Managed (Clawctl) Capabilities

Comparison: Cost

Self-Hosted Cost

Infrastructure:

• Server: $20-100/month (depending on size)
• Bandwidth: Variable
• Monitoring: $10-50/month
• Backups: $10-20/month

Labor:

• Setup: 70-130 hours × your hourly rate
• Maintenance: 5-10 hours/month × your hourly rate

Example calculation (assuming $100/hour):

• Setup: 100 hours × $100 = $10,000
• Monthly infra: ~$100
• Monthly maintenance: 7 hours × $100 = $700
• Year 1 total: ~$20,000
• Year 2+ total: ~$10,000/year

Managed (Clawctl) Cost

Pricing:

• Starter: $49/month
• Team: $199/month
• Enterprise: Custom

Labor:

• Setup: 30 minutes
• Maintenance: Minimal

Example calculation:

• Setup: Negligible
• Monthly: $49-199
• Year 1 total: $600-2,400
• Year 2+ total: $600-2,400/year

Comparison: Compliance

Self-Hosted Compliance

Advantages:

• Data stays on your infrastructure
• Full control over data residency
• Can meet specific compliance requirements

Challenges:

• You must build compliant systems
• You must maintain audit trails
• You must handle security questionnaires yourself
• No external validation

Managed (Clawctl) Compliance

Advantages:

• Built-in audit logging
• Exportable compliance reports
• Security documentation available
• Handles common questionnaire items

Challenges:

• Data processed on external infrastructure
• May not meet specific data residency requirements
• Dependent on Clawctl's compliance posture

Decision Matrix

Hybrid Approach

Some teams use both:

1. Start with managed — Ship quickly, validate the use case
2. Move to self-hosted — If you have specific requirements that justify it

Or:

1. Self-host development — For experimentation and testing
2. Managed for production — For security and reliability

The Honest Assessment

Self-Hosting Is Right For You If:

• You have security engineering expertise
• You need specific compliance configurations
• You have time to build and maintain infrastructure
• Control is more important than convenience

Managed Is Right For You If:

• Your priority is building product, not infrastructure
• You want enterprise-grade security without building it
• You don't have dedicated security resources
• You value time and predictable costs

Try Both

Self-hosted:

npm install -g openclaw
openclaw init
openclaw start

Managed:

Sign up at clawctl.com/checkout, pick a plan, and your agent is provisioned automatically in under 60 seconds.

See which workflow fits your team.

Deploy with Clawctl →

Self-hosting documentation →