* This is a partial translation of a Fast Company article.
Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw is cool, but it gets pricey fast
https://www.fastcompany.com/91484506/what-is-clawdbot-moltbot-openclaw
Using OpenClaw, I don't think I've ever felt the deep gap between Silicon Valley and me quite this acutely.
This new AI program, formerly called Moltbot and before that Clawdbot, went viral over the past week for its ability to control users' digital lives via text message. Right now it's a blatantly geeky tool, but people who've used it are raving about it as the digital assistant of the future.
There's just one problem: OpenClaw's usage fees are absurdly expensive. Maybe not for AI power users who don't blink at spending $200 a month on ChatGPT Pro or Claude Max. But for someone like me who hesitates even at a $20-a-month AI subscription, it's definitely pricey. Continuing to use OpenClaw would cost a lot more than that, and even accounting for the time saved on a few minor tasks, it's just not worth it.
What Is Clawdbot / Moltbot / OpenClaw
OpenClaw is different from other AI tools you access via a web browser or mobile app. Instead, you install it directly on your computer via command-line instructions and connect it to existing AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and so on. It's available anytime as long as your computer is on.
Most of what OpenClaw does is similar to existing AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude. It answers questions, searches the web, and can connect to various third-party services including email and calendars. But there are a few important differences:
- It can access everything on your computer.
- It's available through popular chat services like WhatsApp and iMessage.
- Since it's always running, it can proactively send messages and carry out tasks automatically.
… …
Like a lot of AI tools, OpenClaw ultimately comes down to how you use it. I'm not a particularly creative AI user, but I quickly found a few ways OpenClaw could be more useful than an existing AI assistant.
For example, I gave OpenClaw access to my Obsidian weekly to-do list board. It was able to summarize my schedule, add new items to the list, and delete or rearrange existing items. And I could do all of this just by speaking into a WhatsApp voice message.
I also handed off tedious invoice work to OpenClaw. I had it reference existing invoices in my Obsidian vault, then instructed it to create a new invoice based on the content of my FastCo author page.
… …
* A screen where I pull posts from a specific subreddit and ask for a summary
The Costs Add Up
OpenClaw uses the flagship AI models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, but it doesn't connect to those companies' consumer products. Instead, users have to connect to those companies' developer APIs, which use a pay-per-query pricing model. … …
Just installing OpenClaw cost me about $4. There were significant security concerns involved, so I couldn't bring myself to trust giving it access to my entire file system. Setting up a "sandbox" mode that lets you choose which folders OpenClaw can access took a few rounds of troubleshooting. By the time I set up the rest of the automation features, I'd already spent around $10.
If that had been a one-time cost, I wouldn't have thought much of it. But every time I asked OpenClaw something, I watched the Claude API cost chart jump in a startling way. For instance, just asking why a specific article was excluded from my morning Techmeme summary cost 64 cents. Checking which language model OpenClaw was using cost another 37 cents. These little charges kept snowballing. … …
What I Learned
The overnight fame OpenClaw picked up proved at least a couple of things. First, that if AI is useful enough—especially if it can reach out proactively—communicating through existing messaging apps can actually work pretty well. It also shows that giving AI access to your computer opens up some interesting possibilities (though of course it comes with serious security risks too).
But my biggest takeaway was seeing just how expensive this technology actually is once you strip away venture capital subsidies and the free access big tech companies hand out while in growth mode. OpenClaw is one of the rare AI products that actually looks sustainable. But unless the cost structure of AI API access changes, mainstream adoption may still be a long way off.
[remainder omitted]
