OpenClaw hosting with a free plan and no credit card: who offers what
“Free” on an OpenClaw hosting page means one of four things: a plan that stays free, a trial that ends in days, a cloud free tier where you install everything yourself, or free hosting with tokens billed from the first reply. “No credit card” is a separate question, and the two do not line up: some hosts take a card for a plan that never charges it, and some trials need nothing but a Google account and then delete the server on day seven.
The table below answers both questions per host, plus the third one that decides whether $0 is really $0: whether you need your own API key. Every line was read on the vendor’s own page on 19 October 2026, and the links go there.
The table
| Host | What is free | Card at sign-up | Your API key | Free ends | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aplite Free | a plan: one agent, the full workspace, budget models, 300 welcome credits | no | not needed, and not supported | never | the workspace sleeps after 6 hours idle and wakes on the next visit, usually under a minute; no schedules; Pro is $20/mo |
| Agent37 Free | a plan: one agent, 1 vCPU, 4 GB | no | after “$0.20 of the default model to start”, yes | never | sleeps after 15 minutes idle |
| Runware | hosting; inference “billed per token” | no, “no payment required to deploy” | not needed | hosting never; tokens paid from the first reply, $2 credit with a business email | one instance per account; suspended after 5 days unused, data kept |
| Ampere | FAQ: hosting during beta, “$10 in AI credits included” | FAQ: no | not needed on the credits; BYOK is listed on Pro and Ultra | after the beta | the plan table says “Free” is $1/mo with 5,000 credits, “Start for $1”; the page disagrees with itself |
| OneClickClaw | a 7-day trial on a Starter server, 2 vCPU, 4 GB, EU | no, a Google account | yes, or a ChatGPT / SuperGrok subscription sign-in | day 7: “the server and its data are removed” unless a payment method is added | then €14.99/mo, €12.49 on annual |
| Flux | the first week, new users only | no | yes | after 7 days, “ends on its own” | then $5.49/mo, 4 GB |
| RapidClaw | 5 messages | no | not needed | after 5 messages | then $29/mo with $20 in API credits |
| KiloClaw | — | — | — | — | kilo.ai’s KiloClaw pages redirect to the homepage and the pricing page does not mention it; nothing to verify |
| Oracle Cloud Always Free | a VM: 2 Arm OCPUs and 12 GB, or two 1 GB micro VMs, 200 GB disk | yes, plus a phone number; “will not be charged unless you upgrade” | yes, or a local model | never | you install everything; “Out of host capacity” on creation; instances idle for 7 days may be reclaimed |
| Google Cloud free tier | one e2-micro, 1 GB, in three US regions, 30 GB disk | yes, a payment method | yes | never; the $300 trial credit after 90 days | 1 GB is OpenClaw’s stated minimum, not its recommendation |
| AWS Free Tier | $100 in credits at sign-up, up to $200 | the page does not say | yes | “6 months after you open it or when your credits run out, whichever comes first” | the account closes, not just the credit |
| Your own machine | everything | no | no, with a local model | never | sleep, updates and network drops stop the gateway |
| Hostinger | nothing; 30-day money-back | paid from day one | not needed: AI credits included, or a ChatGPT Plus / Pro subscription | — | $5.99/mo on a 24-month term, $10.99 monthly, renews at $11.99 |
| xCloud | nothing | paid from day one | yes | — | $9.99 the first month, then $19.99 |
| Everpod | nothing | paid from day one | not needed: “up to $10 of model usage a month” included | — | $29/mo |
Free plans that stay free, no card
Three options cost nothing on day one and nothing on day 400.
Aplite Free is a working workspace rather than a trial: a standard OpenClaw instance in its own container, one agent, the markdown workspace, approvals, Telegram from a bot token, and 300 welcome credits that never expire, spent only when the agent calls a model. It is not always-on. A Free workspace stops after 6 hours without activity and starts again when you open it, which takes under a minute, and a Telegram bot answers only while the workspace is awake. Scheduled routines, the full model catalog and credit packs are on Pro, $20/mo.
Agent37 Free is the closest comparison: one agent on 1 vCPU and 4 GB, no card, and it sleeps after 15 minutes idle. The difference is the model: Agent37 gives “$0.20 of the default model to start” and then expects your own keys or a paid plan, Aplite keeps metering from its own account.
Your own machine is free in the fullest sense and is the subject of
OpenClaw hosting for free: the install, a local model
through Ollama, and the openclaw gateway install that keeps it running after logout.
Free hosting, paid tokens
Runware charges nothing for the instance. Compute, storage and networking are “included at zero charge”, there is “no payment required to deploy”, and a business email starts the wallet at $2. Every reply then draws on that wallet at per-token rates, one instance per account during the beta, and an instance unused for 5 days is suspended until you redeploy it. Honest and cheap for a bot that talks a few times a day; the wallet is the plan.
Ampere is harder to read. The FAQ says “Free hosting during beta, $10 in AI credits included” and “No credit card needed”. The plan table on the same page lists the entry tier as “Free”, priced at $1/mo, with 5,000 credits, where “$1 = 1,000 credits”, and the button reads “Start for $1”. Take whichever the sign-up form actually shows you.
Trials: no card, about a week
OneClickClaw provisions a real Starter server in Denmark for 7 days against a Google account. You bring a key or sign in with a ChatGPT or SuperGrok subscription. The page is explicit about the end: “At the end of day 7 the server and its data are removed”, unless you add a payment method; then €14.99/mo.
Flux gives new users the first week of its $5.49/mo plan, no card, and the week “ends on its own after 7 days unless you choose to keep the server”. Models are your own key.
RapidClaw counts messages instead of days: 5, then $29/mo. The plan includes $20 in API credits, so no key either side of the line.
KiloClaw appears in most “free trial” lists, but kilo.ai’s KiloClaw pages redirect to the homepage and the pricing page is about Kilo Code. Without a page to read, the trial terms cannot be checked.
Cloud free tiers: a card at sign-up, you install
These are free machines, not free OpenClaw: you create the VM, open the firewall, run the installer and bring a key or a local model, as in the upstream Oracle guide.
- Oracle Cloud Always Free is the most machine for $0: 2 Arm OCPUs and 12 GB of memory (older guides still quote 4 and 24), or two 1 GB micro instances, and 200 GB of block storage. Sign-up takes a card and a phone number; “Your credit card will not be charged unless you upgrade your account.” Two things end the fun: “Out of host capacity” when creating the Arm shape, and reclamation of instances that sit idle for 7 days.
- Google Cloud gives one e2-micro in us-west1, us-central1 or us-east1 with 30 GB of disk, behind a payment method. 1 GB of memory is the floor the OpenClaw FAQ names, and the 2026.9.8 gateway sits at about 740 MB resident a minute after start. The $300 welcome credit lasts 90 days.
- AWS replaced its always-free micro instance with credits: $100 on sign-up, up to $200, and “The account closes on its own 6 months after you open it or when your credits run out, whichever comes first.”
No free plan
Hostinger sells OpenClaw from $5.99/mo on a 24-month term ($10.99 month to month, renewing at $11.99) with AI credits in the subscription or your ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. xCloud is $9.99 the first month and $19.99 after, your own key. Everpod is $29/mo with up to $10 of model usage included. None has a free tier or a no-card trial; they are the paid baseline the free offers above are measured against.
Hosted and free: three steps
The Aplite path, for completeness:
- Create an account. Email or Google, no card.
- Deploy. Pick the agent and a model, press Deploy; about a minute later the workspace opens with its own OpenClaw instance, currently 2026.9.8.
- Ask. No key to paste: models run through one metered account and the welcome credits cover the first conversations.
What differs from self-hosting, no shell, no raw openclaw.json, catalog models only, is
on the OpenClaw page. Aplite is an independent service and is not
affiliated with the OpenClaw project.
FAQ
Is there OpenClaw hosting that is free forever?
Three kinds. Aplite Free and Agent37 Free are plans with no end date, both on a single agent that sleeps between uses. Runware hosts for free indefinitely and bills tokens. Oracle, Google Cloud and AWS give a free machine with a card on file, and you install OpenClaw yourself.
Which OpenClaw hosts do not ask for a credit card?
Aplite, Agent37, Runware, RapidClaw and Flux take no card to start, and OneClickClaw needs only a Google account for its 7-day trial. Ampere’s FAQ says no card. Oracle and Google Cloud ask for a card they do not charge inside the free tier.
Does the Aplite Free plan expire?
No. There is no end date and the 300 welcome credits do not expire. The workspace sleeps after 6 hours idle and wakes on your next visit; one agent, budget models, no scheduled automations.
Is the Oracle free tier really free?
Yes, within the Always Free limits: 2 Arm OCPUs and 12 GB, or two 1 GB micro VMs. You give a card and a phone number at sign-up and are “not charged unless you upgrade”. Capacity for the Arm shape is often unavailable, and an instance idle for 7 days can be reclaimed.
What is the difference between a free plan and a free trial?
A plan has no end date and usually a smaller machine, one agent or a sleep timer. A trial is the paid product for a few days: OneClickClaw and Flux give 7, RapidClaw gives 5 messages, and the server or its data goes away unless you pay.
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