Is OpenClaw Down?

Quickest ways to check the current status of openclaw.ai plus recent known issues and working alternatives if it's out.

Last editorial review: 2026-06-18

How to check right now

Step 1 -- Load the site
Open openclaw.ai→

The simplest check. If it loads and you can log in, the tool is up for you.

Step 2 -- Crowdsourced reports
DownDetector: OpenClaw→

User-reported outages aggregated across regions. Good signal for partial or regional outages.

Step 3 -- Live social
Search X for “OpenClawdown” →

Live tweets from other users. Fastest signal for a fresh outage -- often beats status pages by 10-20 minutes.

Step 4 -- Official status page
Find OpenClaw's status page →

Most vendors publish a status page at status.[domain] or on Statuspage.io. Google-search to find the current URL.

Known issues we've tracked

CREDIT-POOL REINSTATEMENT PLAN PAUSED (status as of 2026-06-18): Anthropic had announced (~2026-05-13) it would reinstate third-party agent harnesses -- OpenClaw, `claude -p`, Agent SDK apps -- onto Claude Pro/Max subscriptions via a SEPARATE metered credit pool (Pro $20, Max 5x $100, Max 20x $200) effective 2026-06-15. **Anthropic then PAUSED that billing overhaul just before launch ('Nothing changes for now')**, so the separate-credit-pool model is NOT in effect. As of today, programmatic harness usage against a Claude subscription draws on regular subscription limits, with no separate programmatic credit pool live. The strict April lockout enforcement has effectively relaxed, but the long-term billing posture for continuous-loop harnesses is unsettled -- and a heartbeat agent will still consume Claude limits fast. DeepSeek / OpenAI API remain cheaper substitutes for non-Claude-dependent skills, and the safest assumption for production OpenClaw is still direct API token economics.
2026-06-18•The Decoder (anthropic-backs-off-unpopular-billing-overhaul), Axios (2026-05-14); earlier reinstatement announcement: VentureBeat, The New Stack (2026-05-13)
ANTHROPIC LOCKOUT (2026-04-04, enforced 2026-04-10): Anthropic excluded OpenClaw and other third-party agent harnesses from Claude Pro / Max flat-rate plans. Running OpenClaw against your existing Pro or Max subscription now bills as separate pay-as-you-go 'extra usage' rather than counting against the flat plan. Anthropic temporarily banned OpenClaw's creator from the platform on 2026-04-10 (cited 'subscriptions weren't built to handle the usage patterns' of harnesses that run continuous reasoning loops and tool chains). For OpenClaw users specifically: budget for direct API token costs going forward, NOT a flat $20-200/mo Claude subscription. The pay-as-you-go path still works -- but the economics are materially different. DeepSeek + OpenAI API are cheaper substitutes for non-Claude-dependent skills
2026-04-10•TechCrunch (techcrunch.com/2026/04/10/anthropic-temporarily-banned-openclaws-creator-from-accessing-claude/), The Next Web, PYMNTS
SECURITY CRISIS -- 9 CVEs disclosed over 4 days in March 2026, including one rated CVSS 9.9 (critical). Security researchers found 135,000+ OpenClaw instances publicly exposed on the internet across 82 countries, many with default credentials or unpatched versions. Mass developer migration to Hermes Agent reported across r/LocalLLaMA and Hacker News. If you are running OpenClaw, verify you are on the latest patch release and behind a firewall before doing anything else
2026-03•The New Stack, OpenClaw security advisories, Hacker News
Prompt injection via incoming messages or scraped web content can hijack the agent when it has credential access -- VirusTotal skill scanning partnership is one mitigation path but not a full solution. Pair with an allow-list of executable skills and never give the agent write-access credentials to production systems
2026-02•OpenClaw blog / Wikipedia
Breaking config changes across rapid version bumps -- SOUL.md schema has shifted multiple times since the rename, older templates may not load. Downstream of the security disclosures, update cadence is now slower/more careful which reduces but doesn't eliminate this
2026-03•GitHub Issues

Issues here are sourced from our editorial sweeps, not real-time telemetry. Newer issues may exist.

What to use if OpenClaw is down

Top AIToolTier-ranked alternatives in the same category, ordered by our overall score.

A

ChatGPT Work

8.5

OpenAI's long-running work agent (launched 2026-07-09) -- gathers context across your apps via plugins, stays on a project for hours, and returns finished docs/sheets/slides/web apps. Built on Codex technology, powered by GPT-5.6, with Scheduled Tasks and a new unified ChatGPT desktop app

A

Hermes Agent

8.4

Nous Research's self-improving autonomous agent -- persistent memory, auto-generated skills, five sandbox backends. v0.18.0 'Judgment Release' (2026-07-01) adds work verification with evidence contracts, Mixture-of-Agents as selectable models, /learn + /journey self-improvement commands, and parallel background subagents

A

Perplexity Computer

8.4

Perplexity's general-purpose digital worker -- operates real software like you do, runs for hours or months, routes sub-tasks to Opus, Gemini, GPT-5.2, Grok, and Veo 3.1

A

Perplexity Comet

8.4

Perplexity's agentic AI browser -- FREE on all platforms as of 2026-03-18 (previously $200/mo Max-only). iOS, Android, Windows, Mac. Browses the web, executes multi-step tasks, and summarizes pages in-line. Comet Plus ($5/mo) adds premium publisher content

A

Wingman (Emergent)

8.1

Emergent's messaging-first personal AI agent -- launched 2026-04-15 from the India vibe-coding startup ($70M raise, $300M valuation). Positioned as an OpenClaw alternative with safer defaults

About OpenClaw

Tier B (7.6/10). Open-source personal AI agent you talk to through Signal, Telegram, Discord, or WhatsApp. WARNING: March 2026 disclosed 9 CVEs (including CVSS 9.9) with 135,000+ exposed public instances -- verify hardening before running anywhere sensitive

Read the full OpenClawreview →