Best Models to Run for OpenClaw in 2026

OpenClaw supports a dozen providers. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, open-source models through routers like OpenRouter and haimaker.ai. Each has trade-offs around cost, capability, and where your data ends up.

At founders.sh, OpenClaw is the engine behind every agent team we deploy. We’ve tested every major model across thousands of real agent tasks — research, outreach, content, ops — and have strong opinions about what works. Here they are.

Price, Capability, Privacy

These three things compete with each other. You can optimize for two, maybe, but rarely all three.

Price

Token pricing varies wildly. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $15 / $75 per million tokens (input / output). GPT-4.1 mini charges $0.40 / $1.60. That’s a 47x difference on output alone. For an OpenClaw agent running 24/7 across Telegram and web, those numbers compound fast.

For most assistant-level tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 at $3 / $15 gives you most of Opus’s capability at a fraction of the cost. That’s our default on founders.sh. Combine model choice with token optimization techniques to cut costs even further.

Capability

For OpenClaw specifically, what actually matters:

• +Tool calling — can it invoke shell commands, APIs, and file operations without fumbling the syntax?
• +Context tracking — does it remember what you said 50 messages ago in a Telegram thread?
• +Instruction following — does it stick to the agent's role or go rogue?
• +Speed — how long before the first token shows up in your chat?

Benchmarks lie. A model can score 95% on MMLU and still choke on a three-step shell command. We care about how it performs inside OpenClaw, not on a leaderboard.

Privacy

Cloud APIs mean your prompts hit external servers. For general business tasks — research, outreach, content — that’s fine. For sensitive financial data, proprietary strategy docs, or anything you wouldn’t email to a stranger, you might want open-source models on your own hardware. OpenClaw supports both through its provider system.

Recommendations by Use Case

// Set as your default in openclaw.json
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"
      }
    }
  }
}

// Override for a specific agent role
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": { "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929" }
    },
    "researcher": {
      "model": { "primary": "anthropic/claude-opus-4-5-20250929" }
    }
  }
}

// Gemini as primary with Claude fallback
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "google/gemini-2.5-pro",
        "fallbacks": ["anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]
      }
    }
  }
}

// Self-hosted Ollama as a custom provider
{
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "ollama": {
        "baseUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          { "id": "llama3.3:70b", "name": "Llama 3.3 70B" }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": { "primary": "ollama/llama3.3:70b" }
    }
  }
}

Switching Models in OpenClaw

OpenClaw makes model switching trivial. You can change models in config, from the CLI, or mid-conversation.

In your config (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json)

Set agents.defaults.model.primary to any provider/model ref. Add fallbacks so OpenClaw automatically retries on rate limits or outages:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
        "fallbacks": [
          "openai/gpt-4.1",
          "google/gemini-2.5-pro"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

From the CLI

# Set default model
openclaw models set anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

# List all available models
openclaw models list --all

# Add a fallback
openclaw models fallbacks add openai/gpt-4.1

# Check current config
openclaw models status

Mid-conversation

Use the /model command in any OpenClaw chat — Telegram, web, wherever:

/model                          # opens picker
/model opus                     # switch to Opus
/model openai/gpt-4.1           # switch to GPT-4.1
/model ollama/llama3.3:70b      # switch to local model

Quick Reference

The Bottom Line

There’s no single best model. There’s the right model for what you’re doing.

• +Cheap: GPT-4.1 mini or open-source via OpenRouter
• +Capable: Claude Opus 4.5 or Gemini 2.5 Pro
• +Private: Llama 3.3 70B self-hosted with Ollama
• +Best overall: Claude Sonnet 4.5

On founders.sh, we default to Claude Sonnet 4.5. It handles most tasks well and won’t run up a scary bill. OpenClaw’s fallback system means if Anthropic has a bad day, your agents automatically switch to the next best option without you noticing.

The model landscape changes fast. Six months ago, the answer was different. Six months from now, it will be again. We test continuously and update our defaults when something meaningfully better comes along. Adjust from there based on what you actually need.