OpenClaw on a VPS

Run OpenClaw on a virtual private server — provider comparison and setup

Running OpenClaw on a VPS gives you 24/7 availability without keeping a home machine on. The good news: OpenClaw is lightweight on the server side. The AI computation happens on your LLM provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama cloud, etc.), so your VPS mainly runs Node.js, channel connections, and the gateway. That means a modest VPS—1–2GB RAM, single vCPU—is usually enough for personal or small-team use.

This guide covers minimum requirements, recommended providers, and step-by-step setup. We've focused on Hetzner and DigitalOcean as the most popular choices for OpenClaw self-hosters, with notes on Vultr, Hostinger, Oracle Cloud, and others.

Minimum Requirements

OpenClaw needs:

  • RAM: 1GB minimum; 2–4GB recommended for comfortable operation (multiple channels, skills, browser automation)
  • CPU: 1 vCPU is enough for typical chat and automation; 2 vCPU helps with concurrent sessions
  • Storage: 10–20GB for base install, workspace, and logs; more if you run Ollama locally
  • Node.js: 22.12.0 or later

Important: If you use cloud LLMs (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.), the VPS doesn't run the models. Heavy lifting happens on their servers. Your VPS only handles the Gateway, channel connections, and tool execution. That's why a small VPS works.

Recommended VPS Providers

Here are the top providers for OpenClaw, with real-world pricing and notes:

Hetzner Cloud — Best value

EU-based, GDPR-friendly, and 2–3x more compute per dollar than AWS/GCP. CX11 (~$4/mo, 2GB RAM) works; CX22 ($4/mo, 2 vCPU, 4GB) or CX32 ($10/mo, 4 vCPU, 8GB) are more comfortable. German and Finnish data centers.

Hetzner setup guide →

DigitalOcean — Best for beginners

1-Click Deploy from the marketplace, excellent docs, $200 free credit for new users. Basic Droplet $6/mo (1GB) or $12/mo (2GB) recommended. Simple UI, predictable pricing.

DigitalOcean setup guide →

Vultr — Global coverage

32 datacenters worldwide. Cloud Compute $6/mo (1 vCPU, 1GB) comparable to DigitalOcean. Good if you need a specific region (Asia, South America, etc.).

Vultr setup guide →

Hostinger — Budget option

$5.99/mo intro (1 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 50GB NVMe). One-click OpenClaw template, sometimes bundled AI credits. Limited US datacenter coverage.

Hostinger setup guide →

Oracle Cloud — Free tier

Always Free tier: 4 ARM CPUs, 24GB RAM, 200GB storage. Enough to run OpenClaw + Ollama with local models. ARM architecture, slightly more complex setup.

Oracle Cloud guide →

Railway — PaaS, $5/mo

One-click deploy, web setup wizard. $5/mo Hobby plan. Best for testing and development—cheapest way to try OpenClaw in the cloud.

Railway guide →

Contabo — Budget EU

~€5/mo, 9 regions, unlimited traffic, dedicated OpenClaw hosting page. Good for EU users.

Contabo guide →

LumaDock — From $1.99/mo

Cheapest OpenClaw VPS option. Docker template, Ubuntu 24.04. 1GB RAM entry; upgrade for production.

LumaDock guide →

Alibaba Cloud — APAC, Qwen

Simple Application Server, Model Studio. Qwen Max, Plus, Flash, 3.5. Low latency for APAC users.

Alibaba Cloud guide →

Serverion — Custom managed

33 datacenters, 99.99% uptime. Optional full server management. EU-focused.

Serverion guide →

ZAP-Hosting — VPS or dedicated

Dedicated OpenClaw page. VPS from ~$9/mo, dedicated from ~$70/mo. DDoS protection.

ZAP-Hosting guide →

Basic Setup (PM2)

Once you have a VPS with Ubuntu or Debian:

  1. Install Node.js 20+ (or use the OpenClaw one-liner, which installs Node if needed)
  2. Install OpenClaw and PM2
  3. Run the onboarding wizard
  4. Start the gateway with PM2 so it survives reboots
Quick setup
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
npm install -g pm2
openclaw init
pm2 start 'openclaw gateway start' --name openclaw
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Enable UFW firewall for ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS). For full setup including reverse proxy and SSL, see our Deployment tutorial and the provider-specific guides below.

Docker on VPS

For reproducible deployments, use Docker. The Docker guide covers building and running OpenClaw in containers. Many providers (DigitalOcean, Hetzner) support Docker out of the box. Benefits: consistent environment, easy updates, isolation.

Local vs VPS vs Managed

Running OpenClaw on a local device (your Mac, Linux box, or Windows machine) often improves day-to-day productivity: you can airdrop files, use local paths, and get lower latency. Workflows like "drop a video, get transcript and thumbnails" are much easier when the Gateway and workspace live on a machine you use daily.

Use a VPS when you need 24/7 reachability (e.g. WhatsApp always online), don't have suitable local hardware, or want to isolate the assistant from your main machine. Prefer no servers at all? See Managed hosting—Clawi, xCloud, MyClaw.ai let you get WhatsApp and Telegram connected without running any infrastructure. More in Tips & best practices.

Provider guides