How to Set Up OpenClaw on a VPS: Hosting Guide
Your VPS is the home base for your AI agents — it needs to be reliable, well-sized, and properly configured. This guide covers everything from choosing the right VPS provider to optimizing your server for AI agent workloads. Follow these recommendations and your agents will run smoothly 24/7.
What You Need
- ✓Budget of $5-20/month for VPS hosting
- ✓Basic understanding of what OpenClaw does
Step-by-Step Guide
Choose your VPS provider
We recommend Hetzner (best value in Europe), Contabo (budget-friendly), or DigitalOcean (beginner-friendly). Key factors: price, server locations, reliability, and support quality. For most users, a European provider like Hetzner offers the best balance of price and performance.
Select the right server size
Minimum recommended specs: 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB SSD. This handles 1-2 agents comfortably. For 3-5 agents or local model inference, upgrade to 4 vCPU and 8GB RAM. Storage is rarely a bottleneck — 40GB is plenty unless you store large files.
Set up the server
Choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your operating system. After creation, connect via SSH, update the system, configure a firewall, and set up a non-root user. These steps are covered in detail in our installation guide and the CampeloClaw course.
Install OpenClaw
Follow the standard installation procedure. On a fresh VPS, the entire process takes about 20-30 minutes. Configure your domain name and SSL certificate for secure access.
Optimize for uptime
Set up OpenClaw as a system service so it restarts automatically if the server reboots. Configure monitoring to alert you if the agent goes offline. Set up automated backups on a daily schedule.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- !Choosing a VPS with too little RAM — 2GB minimum, 4GB recommended
- !Picking a server location far from your customers — latency affects response time
- !Not setting up automatic restarts — servers occasionally reboot for maintenance
- !Skipping SSL/HTTPS configuration
Want the full walkthrough? This guide covers the essentials, but the CampeloClaw course provides detailed video instruction for every step, troubleshooting guides, and hands-on practice exercises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which VPS provider is cheapest?
Contabo offers the lowest prices (starting around $4/month). Hetzner offers the best price-to-performance ratio (around $5/month). DigitalOcean is more expensive but has the most beginner-friendly interface.
Related Pages
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