Meta Muse vs OpenClaw
We give Meta Muse a 3.6 GPA and OpenClaw a 3.4, out of 4.0. Meta Muse grades higher on ease of use. OpenClaw grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Meta Muse
Meta's personal AI agent for everyday tasks, goals and purchases
Free plan · from $20/mo
OpenClaw
Open-source personal AI agent you run yourself and message in chat
Free
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAMeta MuseExcellent | 3.4GPAOpenClawVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPower is $20 a month for 500M Muse tokens a week, which is about where agents in this category start. Max jumps to $100 a month for 3B tokens a week. Both renew every month until you cancel. | AIt costs nothing. OpenClaw is MIT licensed, with no paid version and no hosted tier to be sold up to. You do pay for the AI model, billed by whichever provider you connect. Local models through Ollama or LM Studio work too. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree up to a usage limit, then you wait for it to refresh or pay. Meta's help article doesn't say how big the free allowance is, so nobody can tell you how far it goes before you start. | AThe whole product is free: the Gateway, the desktop and phone apps, the chat channels and the plugins. Nothing is held back. You bring the machine and your own model access. |
| Features | AIt works on its own cloud computer with a full browser, keeps going after you close the app, and tracks goals over time. It asks before sending an email or buying something, and pays through Link with a one-time card number. | AIt browses the web, fills in forms, reads and writes files and runs shell commands, in a sandbox if you'd rather. It remembers people and projects between chats, answers on 29 channels, and runs jobs on a schedule or when a webhook fires. It can even write its own skills. |
| Ease of use | A4.9 from about 155,000 App Store ratings. You message it the way you'd message a person, in the app or in WhatsApp. You do need a Meta account to get in. | DYou host it yourself. There's no hosted service, so you install, run and update the Gateway on your own computer or server. The desktop apps do install it for you, which helps. You still bring your own model access. |
| Platforms and integrations | AiPhone, Android, Mac, the web and WhatsApp, with connectors for email, calendar and Instagram. Two gaps: the only desktop download is for Mac, and Meta says it isn't available in all locations yet. | ADesktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux, phone apps for iPhone and Android, and chat channels from WhatsApp to iMessage, plus Gmail and GitHub. One catch: the phone apps are companions, and need a Gateway running on another machine. |
| Best for | errands you hand over by message | a free agent on your own hardware, reached by chat |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Meta Muse and OpenClaw. How we grade
Where they differ
- Meta Muse starts at $20 per month (Power). OpenClaw is free.
- Only OpenClaw lists Windows and Linux apps.
- OpenClaw is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Meta Muse also covers goals and research.
- OpenClaw also covers workflow automation.
In commonFree planWebmacOSiOSAndroidChat assistantAI agents
At a glance
| Meta Muse | OpenClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $20 per month (Power) | Free |
| Free plan | Free with a usage limit. When you reach it you can wait for the limit to refresh or upgrade to a paid plan; Meta's help article does not give the size of the free allowance. | The whole product is free and MIT licensed, with no paid version or hosted tier. You supply the machine it runs on and your own model access, which the model provider bills separately. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Meta | OpenClaw Foundation |
| Price read from | meta.com | openclaw.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Meta Muse
- Personal errands such as bookings, shopping and price tracking
- People who want to message an agent from WhatsApp
- Long-running goals that need follow-up without checking in
OpenClaw
- Developers and power users who want an assistant on their own hardware
- Reaching one agent from WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack or iMessage
- Teams sharing a single gateway with sessions everyone can open
Worth knowing
Meta Muse
- Meta says Muse is rolling out in the US, and that Muse and its subscriptions are in limited testing and not available in all locations.
- The size of the free allowance is not published in the help article; Power and Max are capped at 500M and 3B Muse tokens a week.
- A Meta account is required, and subscribers must be 18 or the age of majority in their country.
- The App Store lists the iOS app as iPhone only, requiring iOS 18 or later; the only desktop download offered is for macOS.
OpenClaw
- There is no hosted service: you install, run and update the Gateway yourself on a computer or server.
- The software is free, but model usage is billed by whichever provider you connect, through an API key or an existing subscription.
- The iOS and Android apps are companion nodes and need a Gateway running on another machine.
- The macOS desktop app requires macOS 15 or later, and the Linux desktop app is x64 only.
Key features
Meta Muse
- Muse Secure VM
- Each user gets a persistent, isolated Linux computer in the cloud with a full browser, shared with the agent, and can step in at any point while a task runs.
- Goals and background work
- Given a goal, Muse builds an action plan, tracks progress and takes on tasks along the way. It keeps working after the app is closed and returns when it needs approval.
- Connectors and self-built tools
- Connects to email, calendar, Instagram and other apps, with the level of access set by the user. If a task needs a tool that does not exist, Muse builds one.
- Approvals and audit trail
- Asks before sensitive actions such as sending an email or making a purchase, with options to allow once, always allow or deny, and keeps a record of what it has done and plans to do.
- Purchases through Link
- Checks out with Link, built by Stripe, using a one-time card number so the merchant and the agent never see the real card. Eligible purchases carry Link's purchase protections.
- Mobile, Mac, web and WhatsApp
- Conversations work like messaging a person, in the mobile app, on muse.ai or directly in WhatsApp. The Mac app also works with local files, apps and browser tabs.
OpenClaw
- Self-hosted Gateway
- One Gateway process on your own machine or server handles sessions, routing and channel connections. Desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux install it for you.
- Chat channels
- Message the agent from WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, iMessage and other channels, 29 in all, in direct messages and group chats.
- Bring your own model
- Works with hosted providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, with gateways such as OpenRouter, and with local models through Ollama or LM Studio.
- Persistent memory
- Remembers preferences, projects and people from one conversation to the next, with state stored on your machine rather than in a vendor cloud.
- System access and sandboxing
- Can browse the web, fill in forms, read and write files and run shell commands, with a choice between full access and a sandbox.
- Skills, plugins and automation
- Skills and plugins extend the agent, and it can write its own skills. Cron jobs, hooks and webhooks run work on a schedule or in response to events.
Plans
Meta Muse
Free$0
Free use up to a usage limit that refreshes; the size of the allowance is not stated in Meta's help article.
Power$20
per month
A weekly allowance of 500M Muse tokens. Renews automatically each month until canceled.
Max$100
per month
A weekly allowance of 3B Muse tokens. Renews automatically each month until canceled.
OpenClaw
OpenClaw (MIT licensed)Free
The complete product: Gateway, desktop and mobile apps, chat channels and plugins. Model usage is billed separately by the provider you connect.
