A cheap model runs your agent 24/7. Claude Code (on your subscription) whispers in its ear when things get tricky.
OpenClaw agents consume a LOT of tokens — tool calls, retries, long conversations. Running on a mid-tier model through API easily costs hundreds of dollars per month. Opus? Forget it.
People used to work around this by routing OpenClaw through their Claude Pro/Max subscription instead of API keys — the subscription subsidized far more usage than raw API credits. But Anthropic recently shut that down.