# Haven vs OpenClaw

> OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) to Haven's 22.2 (F) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-12

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Haven's 22.2 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistant proactive.

- Haven: grade F, 22.2/100, rank #977 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/haven.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/haven.json
- OpenClaw: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #270 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Haven (F)

Good for: A consumer assistant for one person who wants to phone, text or email it and have it remember them.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 points for them

Watch for: No approval setting or list of actions that need confirmation was found on the public pages. The terms say it sends emails, SMS and calls following the user's instructions.

### OpenClaw (B)

Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with their choice of model and files they can read and delete.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 4
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 6
- Security & auth, 74 against 13
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 68 against 51

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Haven | OpenClaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 75 | OpenClaw +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 4 | 84 | OpenClaw +80 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 6 | 77 | OpenClaw +71 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 13 | 74 | OpenClaw +61 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | OpenClaw +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 35 | 86 | OpenClaw +51 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 68 | OpenClaw +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -8 | |
| **Total** | | **22.2 · F** | **67.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Haven | OpenClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Platform | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Hello Haven, Inc. | OpenClaw Foundation |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Hello Haven's Terms of Service | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-12 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-24 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-24 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | none | 392k stars |

## Verdicts

**Haven.** Haven answers by phone call, text, email and app, is free in beta with no card, and publishes a status page with dated incidents. No public page read says which actions need approval, which accounts it connects or how their tokens are kept, and it names no model provider or sub-processor.

**OpenClaw.** Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with state, memory and credentials kept on the owner's machine and no paid tier. A fresh install runs tools on the host with full access, no approval prompt and no sandbox, and the project has published 722 security advisories since January 2026, 14 of them critical.

## Before you call either

### Haven

1. Haven has no documented API or MCP server. An outside agent can reach it only through the owner's channels (call, SMS, email, app).
2. Do not assume an approval step before Haven sends mail, texts or calls. None is documented on the public pages.
3. Email Haven sends to other people names Hello Haven as sender and says it was sent on the user's behalf, per the terms.
4. Chat messages, history, profile context and uploaded files go to third-party AI model providers that the vendor does not name.
5. Check status.hellohaven.ai before relying on phone or voice. All four published incidents affected those channels.

### OpenClaw

1. Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval
2. Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default
3. Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation
4. Route incoming mail to a restricted reader agent, as the IMAP and Gmail guides show, and deny `gateway`, `cron`, `sessions_spawn` and `sessions_send` for it
5. Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Haven or OpenClaw?

OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Haven's 22.2 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Haven and OpenClaw open source?

No open-source release is listed for Haven. OpenClaw is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "haven", "b": "openclaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare haven openclaw`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/haven.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json

## Other comparisons with Haven or OpenClaw

- [AstrBot vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-haven.md)
- [AstrBot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.md)
- [CowAgent vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-haven.md)
- [CowAgent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw.md)
- [GAIA vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-haven.md)
- [GAIA vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-haven.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Grok Bot vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-haven.md)
- [Grok Bot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Haven vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [Haven vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-instinct.md)
- [Haven vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.md)
- [Haven vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-leon.md)
- [Haven vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-lindy.md)
- [Haven vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanobot.md)
- [Haven vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanoclaw.md)
- [Haven vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Haven vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [Haven vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-poke.md)
- [Haven vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Haven vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Haven vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Instinct vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.md)
- [IronClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Leon vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Lindy vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw.md)
- [nanobot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.md)
- [NanoClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Dots vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.md)
- [OpenClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)