OpenClaw Model Providers: From Anthropic to Local Ollama

Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (GPT-4) are the best starting points — both have excellent tool use support which is critical for OpenClaw skills. Anthropic's Claude models tend to follow agent instructions more precisely, while OpenAI offers the widest ecosystem.

Yes, OpenClaw supports Ollama as a provider. You'll need sufficient hardware (8GB+ RAM for small models, 16GB+ for capable ones). Local models are free to run but currently lag behind cloud models in tool use reliability. Great for privacy-sensitive setups.

Configure a primary model in your openclaw.yaml and add fallback providers. If the primary provider returns an error or times out, OpenClaw automatically routes to the fallback. This ensures your agent stays responsive even during provider outages.

OpenRouter is a unified gateway that gives you access to dozens of model providers through a single API key. It's useful for experimenting with different models without managing multiple accounts, and it handles routing, rate limits, and billing centrally.

For personal use with Claude or GPT-4, expect $10-40/month depending on how chatty you are and how many automated tasks run. Using smaller models for routine tasks and reserving top-tier models for complex work can cut costs significantly.