OpenClaw on Hostinger: managed or VPS? Price, what each one requires and who it suits

Both options let you use Hostinger's AI credits or your own API key. On October 21, 2026, the managed plan costs US$3.99/month with the referral link and US$4.99 without it. The VPS KVM 1 costs US$6.49/month without the link (the price with the link is shown in the cart). Prices are for a 24-month plan. Both renew at US$11.99/month.

OpenClaw is an open-source AI assistant, under the MIT license. It runs on a computer or server, keeps conversations, memory and credentials on that equipment, and answers through the messaging apps you already use, such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack and Discord. To think and reply, it uses AI models from other companies, such as Claude, GPT and Gemini, which charge for their use.

The project itself charges nothing: the official README says it has no paid plan, no hosted service and no token. What costs money is the server where it runs and the use of the AI models. At Hostinger there are two paths:

• Managed: you buy the plan, and Hostinger installs, updates and maintains the assistant.
• VPS: you rent a virtual server, and Hostinger installs OpenClaw on it with Docker, a program that runs each application isolated in its own container. From then on, updates and server security are yours.

Managed OpenClaw is the “AI automation apps” plan, the same one used for managed Hermes Agent and Paperclip, at the same price. Values are for a 24-month plan, read on October 21, 2026.

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An API key is the password OpenClaw uses to ask an AI provider for answers. The provider charges for that use, directly to you.

The price on the page is per month, but the 24-month plan is paid in one go:

• Managed, with the link: 24 × US$3.99 = US$95.76. Without the link: 24 × US$4.99 = US$119.76.
• VPS KVM 1, without the link: 24 × US$6.49 = US$155.76.
• Renewal, over the following 24 months (the same for both): 24 × US$11.99 = US$287.76.

Over the first 24 months, the managed plan costs US$36 less than KVM 1, both without the link. After that, both cost the same. Renewal is switched on by default; see how Hostinger charges and renews.

The plan is not the whole cost: AI use is charged separately. With Hostinger's credits, the managed plan comes with a starting balance, and whatever goes beyond it is charged according to use. The price of a top-up does not appear on any public page, so check the panel before you count on it. With your own key, the provider (OpenAI, Anthropic or another) charges you directly, depending on the model and the number of conversations.

The managed plan has a 30-day refund window. On the VPS, the 30 days apply only if your last VPS refund was requested more than 180 days ago.

Choose managed if:

• you want the assistant running without installing or configuring a server;
• you prefer that Hostinger handles the updates, the backups and the security;
• you don't know what root or Docker is;
• you want OpenClaw, or to switch to Hermes Agent or Paperclip on the same plan.

Choose the VPS if: you want root access and to run other programs on the same server, such as a website or n8n; you know how to manage a server, or want to learn, and you accept keeping the system updated and protected; or you need more memory and disk: the KVM plans go from 4 GB to 32 GB of RAM.

When in doubt, start with managed. It costs less in the first period and does not require server knowledge.

Both channels work on both options. The difference is where you set them up. On managed, you choose the channels in Hostinger's setup assistant: for WhatsApp, you read a QR code; for Telegram, you paste the bot token. On the VPS, the setup has optional fields for the WhatsApp number, with the country code, and for the Telegram bot token. The documentation does not show where the WhatsApp QR code appears on the VPS.

For Telegram, there are three steps:

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• Create the bot in BotFather, Telegram's official bot for creating bots, and copy the token.
• Paste the token into the OpenClaw setup.
• Send a message to the bot. Anyone not yet approved gets a pairing code, and you approve the first contact in the OpenClaw panel.

On WhatsApp, OpenClaw joins as a linked device, like WhatsApp Web, and the login is only by QR code. The documentation recommends using a number separate from your personal one.

The question is who looks after the data and the credentials. On managed, Hostinger says each instance runs isolated in a container, with its own security gateway. That is Hostinger's description, not a test of ours. On the VPS, Hostinger itself says that, with root access, the setup, the updates and the security are the responsibility of whoever contracted it.

OpenClaw's security policy says it is built for one trusted person, not for several people who don't know each other: whoever can talk to the assistant can make it use its tools. That changes the choice in three cases:

• More than one person will use the assistant (family or team): the project recommends one server per person. On the VPS, that is straightforward; on managed, ask Hostinger how many instances one account can have.
• The assistant will have access to your email, your bank or other accounts: the project asks that the server have no personal accounts logged in. Hostinger suggests a separate email inbox for the assistant.
• On the VPS, keep the gateway token that the installation generates, and don't send it in a conversation with the assistant.

The referral link already applies the discount: there is no code to type. It gives 20% off the first period only, on plans of 12 months or more, and the discount does not stack with other coupons. Renewal is charged at the normal price. The full rule is in how Hostinger's referral link works.

Prices for 24-month plans, read on October 21, 2026:

These are the prices of Hostinger's global page, in US dollars. In your country, Hostinger may show another currency and taxes, so check the cart before you pay. Prices change in campaigns: see Hostinger's Black Friday and confirm the amount in the cart.

Em Casa com Cecília runs on Hostinger, as a Node.js Web App, and Bruno has been a customer since 2024, with hosting and a KVM 2 VPS. No one on the team uses OpenClaw: this text gathers what Hostinger's pages and OpenClaw's official documentation say, read on October 21, 2026.