OpenClaw vs Vellum

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

Vellum

• People who want one assistant that remembers them across devices and chat apps
• Handing off email triage, calendar work and recurring background tasks
• Users who want to inspect or self-host the assistant's open-source runtime

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.

Vellum

• The Base plan is free to host, but model usage, web search and image generation are paid for in prepaid credits at $1 per credit.
• Included monthly usage does not roll over, and pay-as-you-go credits expire twelve months after purchase.
• The docs describe the Windows app as a dev build tied to Vellum's development environment, and no Linux desktop client is shipped.
• The iOS and Android apps are clients for a cloud assistant; they do not run a local assistant on the phone.

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.

Vellum

Long-term memory

The assistant keeps facts, preferences and people in a personal knowledge base and recalls them across conversations. On your own machine the workspace is plain-text files plus a SQLite database.

Skills for your work tools

Built-in skills and OAuth integrations cover Google Workspace, Outlook, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, HubSpot, Asana and Todoist. More skills come from a catalog or are written yourself.

Permission prompts

Sensitive actions such as file access, shell commands or emailing a new contact show an Allow or Deny prompt with a risk badge until you create a trust rule for them.

One assistant on every channel

The same identity, memory and schedules are available from the web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps, a CLI, Telegram, Slack, email, voice and phone calls.

Computer and browser control

The desktop app adds voice input and computer control, and a Chrome extension lets the assistant read open tabs, fill in forms and act on the page in front of you.

Cloud, local or self-hosted

Run it in Vellum Cloud, locally on a Mac or Windows PC, or self-hosted on a Linux host or your own Google Cloud project, bringing your own model API key.

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.

Vellum

• Base$0

  Free forever: a Small cloud machine (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM), 6 GiB of storage and managed model access paid for with pay-as-you-go credits.

• Self-hosted$0

  The open-source runtime on your own Mac, Windows PC, Linux host or GCP project, with your own model API key and no platform or machine fees.

• Mighty$30

  per month

  Small machine, 10 GiB of storage and a monthly Mighty Usage allowance. Leaves out the custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.

• CustomFrom $50

  per month

  Pick a machine size, storage tier and optional usage bundle yourself. The minimum is a Medium machine with 10 GiB and no usage bundle.

• Super$100

  per month

  Medium machine (2.5 vCPU, 5 GiB), 30 GiB of storage and Super Usage, plus an assistant email, custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.

• Ultra$200

  per month

  Large machine (4 vCPU, 8 GiB), 60 GiB of storage and Ultra Usage, with the same assistant email, subdomain and support as Super.