Setup OpenClaw: Managed Clawctl vs DIY Hetzner
Hetzner has the best price-to-performance ratio in cloud computing.
€4/month for a CX11. German data centers. GDPR-friendly.
But GDPR requires more than EU data residency. It requires:
- Access controls
- Audit logging
- Data protection
- Incident response
Your €4 Hetzner box has EU residency. It has none of the rest.
The Research
- 42,665 exposed OpenClaw instances found (Maor Dayan, January 2026)
- 93.4% were vulnerable to exploitation
- 26% of agent skills contain vulnerabilities (Cisco research on 31K skills)
- 1,800+ instances had leaked API keys
OpenClaw binds to 0.0.0.0 by default. Credentials are stored in plaintext at ~/.openclaw/credentials/. Sandboxing is off for main sessions.
Hetzner doesn't fix any of this. Hetzner rents computers.
What €4 Gets You on Hetzner
- 2 vCPU (shared)
- 2 GB RAM
- 20 GB SSD
- A server
What €4 does NOT get you:
- Gateway authentication
- Sandbox isolation
- Egress filtering
- Audit logging
- Kill switch
- Human-in-the-loop
- Prompt injection defense
What €45 Gets You on Clawctl
- Managed OpenClaw deployment
- 256-bit gateway authentication (formally verified)
- Container sandbox isolation
- Egress proxy filtering (Squid, domain allowlist)
- Full audit logging (searchable, exportable)
- One-click kill switch
- Human-in-the-loop approvals (70+ high-risk actions blocked)
- Prompt injection defense
- Automatic security updates
- EU deployment available
The €41 difference buys you protection against the lethal trifecta.
The Lethal Trifecta
Simon Willison's framework describes why agents are uniquely dangerous:
- Access to private data (files, credentials, APIs)
- Exposure to untrusted content (user prompts, web inputs)
- Ability to communicate externally (HTTP calls, email, shell)
Any single capability is manageable. All three together — without isolation — is what turns an agent into an attack surface.
Clawctl breaks the trifecta:
- Encrypted secrets vault (data access)
- Approval workflow for high-risk actions (untrusted content)
- Squid proxy egress control (external comms)
Security Comparison
| Layer | Hetzner DIY | Clawctl Managed |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway auth | You build it | Built-in, verified |
| Sandbox | You configure it | Automatic |
| Egress filtering | You probably skip it | Automatic |
| Audit logging | You roll your own | Automatic, searchable |
| Kill switch | SSH in (if you can) | One click |
| Human approval | Build from scratch | 70+ actions blocked |
| Prompt defense | What's that? | Enabled by default |
The Real Cost
Hetzner DIY (Honest Math):
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| CX21 | €6/month |
| Your time (24 hrs @ €75/hr) | €1,800 |
| Maintenance (2 hrs/month @ €75) | €150/month |
| Year 1 | €3,672 |
Clawctl Managed:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Starter plan | €45/month |
| Your time | €0 |
| Maintenance | €0 |
| Year 1 | €540 |
Hetzner costs 6.8x more when you count time.
Setup OpenClaw Now
Don't end up in the next security report.
Sign up at clawctl.com/checkout, pick a plan, and your agent is provisioned automatically in under 60 seconds.
Gateway auth. Sandbox. Logs. Kill switch. All managed. All automatic.