What "free" costs a working desk
Open source means the software costs nothing, and that part is real. The rest of the bill arrives differently: the machine it runs on, the model usage you pay for directly, and the hours. Installing, configuring, updating, hardening, and repairing your own agent is a hobby for people who enjoy it, and we say that with affection. But a recruiter's hour has a market rate, and it's a lot higher than a sysadmin's. Every evening spent debugging a config file is an evening not spent on the follow-up that closes a fee.
On data, credit where due
OpenClaw's community deserves credit for proving that people want an agent that is theirs: their data, their rules, no shared pool. We agree with the principle and deliver it differently: a seat dedicated to your firm, your own Claude subscription, your own RecruiterClaw folder, nothing pooled with other clients. The difference is everything sitting on top: with one, you're the IT department for a general agent with no recruiting features. With the other, the seat arrives loaded: candidate data, campaigns, safety rails, cadence, and craft, maintained for you.
The garage case, honestly
If you're technical, love owning your own stack, and want a general agent to tinker with, open source is a rewarding hobby and we mean that sincerely. If placements pay your bills and your evenings have better uses than server maintenance, buy the finished system that was built by recruiters for exactly your desk. One placement more than covers the year.
Can OpenClaw do recruiting work?
It's a general agent a technical user can wire to many things, but it ships no candidate data, no recruiting workflows, and no craft. Everything a recruiter needs is assembly-required.
Isn't OpenClaw free?
The software, yes. The machine, the model usage, and the maintenance hours are yours. A recruiter's hour is worth more than a sysadmin's.
OpenClaw runs on your own machine. Why is RecruiterClaw hosted?
Because a recruiter's evenings are worth more than server maintenance. Your seat is dedicated to your firm, your data stays on it and in your own folder, and we keep it running, updated, and monitored.
When is OpenClaw the better choice?
You're technical, you enjoy owning your setup, and you want a general agent to experiment with. For a working desk, buy the finished system.
What does RecruiterClaw include that no general agent does?
Licensed candidate data: 400M+ profiles with verified contacts. Plus MPC campaigns, ATS rails, gated email in your voice, and the Field Manual.