If you only care about price, this comparison is short. Clawy is the cheapest starting point. If you need to run several OpenClaw bots from one dashboard, Donely has the clearest story.
But if you picked OpenClaw because you want to customize it, not just rent a chat bot, ClawCloud is the better choice.
That is the real dividing line here. These products all remove setup work. They do not all leave the same amount of OpenClaw in your hands once the bot is live.
OpenClaw is unusually configurable. It supports skills, a long list of channels, model switching in chat, and direct config control. When a host removes server access, CLI access, and config access, it also removes part of the reason many people chose OpenClaw in the first place.
The three options
ClawCloud gives each instance its own server and starts at $29/mo.
Clawy's pricing page lists Starter at $9/mo, Pro at $29/mo, Ultra at $69/mo, and a $99 one-time Founding Member plan. Its public pitch is simplicity first: no terminal, no server work, fast setup.
Donely's pricing page lists a free tier, Personal at $25/mo per agent, Team at $50/mo per agent, and Enterprise pricing on request. Its public pitch is multi-instance management, team access control, and scaling agencies or internal teams from one dashboard.
What actually matters
| What matters | ClawCloud | Clawy | Donely |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $29/mo Lite | $9/mo Starter | Free, then $25/mo Personal |
| Server access | Yes, SSH on every plan | Not advertised | No, Donely explicitly says "No SSH" |
| Environment | Separate server per instance | Hosted product | Per-instance containers |
| API key options | Managed mode or bring your own key | Managed on regular plans, BYOK on Founding Member | Included credits on Free, BYOK on paid plans |
| Channels advertised | Telegram, Discord, Feishu on all plans, WhatsApp on Pro/Max | WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord | WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord coming soon |
| Multi-instance dashboard | No | No | Yes |
| Best fit | People who want to shape OpenClaw | People who want the cheapest simple start | Agencies and teams managing multiple bots |
Pricing and public-feature claims above come from the vendors' public pricing and marketing pages.
Why ClawCloud is the stronger pick
ClawCloud gives you the most room to customize OpenClaw without falling back to full self-hosting.
The biggest reason is access. If you want to inspect logs, run openclaw commands, install a skill from ClawHub, copy a private skill to the server, or inspect ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json, you can. There is a guide for SSH access, a guide for OpenClaw configuration, and a guide for installing custom skills. That is a very different posture from platforms whose sales copy leads with "No terminal" or "No SSH."
It also gives you better control over how the bot behaves. You can use managed mode if you want less setup, or bring your own key if you want provider-level control. You can switch models in chat instead of treating model choice as a fixed plan decision. You can adjust bot identity, DM policy, group behavior, and installed skills without hitting a hard platform boundary the moment your setup gets slightly unusual.
Then there is channel flexibility. ClawCloud supports Telegram, Discord, and Feishu/Lark across plans, with WhatsApp on higher tiers. If Feishu matters, ClawCloud is the only one here with a public answer.
Most importantly, ClawCloud feels like hosted OpenClaw, not a simplified wrapper around it. You get the easier onboarding of managed hosting, but you keep the levers that matter later.
Where Clawy and Donely still win
Clawy wins if your goal is the lowest-friction, lowest-cost start. Its public pitch is built around avoiding terminals, servers, and API-key management. For a personal bot and a tight budget, that is a real advantage. To be fair, Clawy does advertise custom skills on its higher-end plans and BYOK on Founding Member. Even then, the product direction is still simplicity first, not runtime control.
Donely wins if you are running multiple instances for a team, department, or client base. Its public site is clearly built around multi-instance dashboards, per-instance roles, and volume pricing. If your main problem is fleet management, ClawCloud is not trying to beat that today. Donely can move to dedicated infrastructure at enterprise tier, but the core public pitch is still centralized management rather than direct runtime access.
The decision gets simple once customization matters
If you want the cheapest hosted OpenClaw entry point, pick Clawy.
If you want one dashboard for many agents, pick Donely.
If you want the most customizable OpenClaw hosting experience, with real server access, direct config control, flexible model setup, and room to install or debug the skills you actually care about, pick ClawCloud.
That is why ClawCloud is the stronger long-term decision for most serious OpenClaw users. Bots rarely stay simple. You start with one channel, then add another. You start with one model, then want a cheaper or smarter one for specific tasks. You install one skill, then need a second one that wants a custom env var, a config change, or direct file access. ClawCloud is the option that keeps those doors open.
For a deeper look at the trade-off between managed hosting and DIY setup, read OpenClaw Managed Hosting vs Self-Setup. If model flexibility is part of the decision, see Full AI Model Catalog Now on Every OpenClaw Bot. If you want to see the customization path end to end, start with How to SSH Into Your OpenClaw Server on ClawCloud.