Like OpenClaw, built for your whole team
OpenClaw is an open-source personal agent. Alfera is the same idea for a whole team: one coworker everyone shares, with a company brain that syncs your apps, connections shared per person or per team, permissions on every action, and Slack, WhatsApp and email. Self-host it in one click, or start on Alfera Cloud.
In one line: Alfera is one coworker for a whole team, vs a personal assistant in your chat apps.
| OpenClawOpen-source personal AI assistant (self-run gateway) | Open source, or Alfera Cloud | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source AI assistant that runs on your own machine and answers in the chat apps you already use; personal or shared team setup. | The AI coworker your whole team shares, with a company brain that syncs your apps. Open source. | |
| Open source | Yes, MIT | Yes, AGPL-3.0 | |
| Self-host | Yes | Yes: one click on DigitalOcean or AWS, or one command on any server | |
| Price | Free and open source: "No subscription. No hosted tier." You pay your own model provider. | Free to start: open source to self-host, and Alfera Cloud starts with $10 of free AI usage | |
| Where it works | WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, iMessage, Signal, Google Chat, Web Control UI, CLI/TUI, Desktop and mobile apps | Slack, WhatsApp, email from its own address, the web app, a Mac app, the API and MCP | |
| Team use | One shared gateway for a team: a bot in the team chat, shared sessions everyone can open in the Control UI, and roles per person. | Multiplayer: one coworker for the whole team. It knows who is asking, and each connection is shared with everyone, one project, or one person | |
| Permissions | Exec approvals and permission modes (deny, allowlist, ask, auto, full) gate commands; unknown DM senders must be paired and approved. | Allow, ask first, or never, per connection and per action. Approvals in Slack, email or the app, and every action logged | |
| Starts on its own | Built-in scheduler (one-shot and cron jobs), inbound webhooks, Gmail Pub/Sub and IMAP email triggers, MCP events. | On a schedule, from a webhook, or on 600+ app events | |
| Models | Hosted and local model providers as swappable plugins (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, ChatGPT/Codex OAuth, custom base URLs, local servers); your own keys. | 230+ models: Claude, GPT, Gemini, open models, your ChatGPT plan, or your own |
Where OpenClaw is the better choice
People and trusted teams who want an assistant on their own hardware, reachable from WhatsApp, Telegram or any chat app.
- Reaches people in 20+ chat apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage and Signal, plus native macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux apps
- Runs entirely on your own machine with no hosted tier; state, memory and credentials stay on your hardware
- Stewarded by an independent 501(c)(3) foundation (the OpenClaw Foundation)
Everything Alfera does
- A company brain that syncs your apps. Connect Google Drive, Notion, Slack and the rest. Documents sync on their own, keep every version, and every answer draws on them.
- One coworker for the whole team. It knows who is asking. Many people, many tasks at once, each with their own chats and connections, and shared chats when you want.
- 3,000+ app connections, shared the way you choose. Each connection is open to everyone, one project, or one person. A personal mailbox stays personal; the support inbox is the team’s.
- Permissions on every action. Allow, ask first, or never, per connection and per action. Approvals land in Slack, email or the app, and every action is logged.
- Where your team already is. Slack, WhatsApp, email from its own address, the web app, a Mac app, and your own code through the API and MCP.
- It starts work by itself. On a schedule, from a webhook, or on 600+ app events in Gmail, HubSpot, Stripe and more.
- Its own computer. Every chat runs in a sandbox with a terminal and a browser, and its files stay from one chat to the next.
- Any model. 230+ models: Claude, GPT, Gemini, open models, your ChatGPT plan, or a model you run yourself.
- Open source, and free to start. AGPL-3.0. Self-host it in one click on DigitalOcean or AWS, or start on Alfera Cloud with $10 of free AI usage.
OpenClaw and Alfera
Yes, Alfera. Alfera is the AI coworker your whole team shares. It has a company brain that syncs your apps, 3,000+ app connections shared per person or per team, permissions on every action, and it works in Slack, WhatsApp, email and the web app. It starts work by itself, runs on any model, and it is open source: self-host it in one click or start free on Alfera Cloud. OpenClaw is also open source (MIT).
If you want something like OpenClaw, but open source and free to start, with a company brain that syncs your apps, connections shared per person or per team, and permissions on every action, pick Alfera. It works in Slack, WhatsApp and email, starts work by itself, and runs on any model.
OpenClaw: Free and open source: "No subscription. No hosted tier." You pay your own model provider.. Alfera: Free to start: open source to self-host, and Alfera Cloud starts with $10 of free AI usage.
OpenClaw: Yes. Alfera: Yes: one click on DigitalOcean or AWS, or one command on any server.
People and trusted teams who want an assistant on their own hardware, reachable from WhatsApp, Telegram or any chat app. Reaches people in 20+ chat apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage and Signal, plus native macOS, iOS, Android, Windows and Linux apps. Runs entirely on your own machine with no hosted tier; state, memory and credentials stay on your hardware. Stewarded by an independent 501(c)(3) foundation (the OpenClaw Foundation).
Sources
Facts about OpenClaw come from its own pages, read on 16 October 2026. Something out of date? Write to hello@alfera.ai and we will fix it.
- LICENSE file (MIT)
- GitHub repo README (channels, models, security, foundation)
- home page (no subscription, no hosted tier, install options)
- docs: team setup
- docs: exec approvals and permission modes
- docs: automations (schedules, webhooks, Gmail)
- docs index (IMAP trigger, MCP events, channel list)
- docs: model providers