OpenClaw Too Expensive? Try This Instead (97% Reduction)

In this video I walk you through exactly how OpenClaw spends your tokens — file management, model management, and session management explained in plain English so anyone can follow along. Once you understand why costs add up, you'll know exactly what to change and how to optimise OpenClaw for your own setup without just copying someone else's settings. Whether you're just getting started or you've been using OpenClaw and wondering why the bill keeps growing, this one will sort you out. 👉 Help, Resources, Webinars → https://plugnclaw.com/ 👉 How to Set Up OpenClaw: https://youtu.be/BoC5MY_7aDk 🛠️ Hire me: bart@supportlaunchpad.com 👉 Digital Ocean Sign Up: https://m.do.co/c/05f734d27153 --(Get $200 in credit over 60 days for Digital Ocean) 🚀 Sign up to Replit: https://replit.com/refer/bart31 👉 Check out my Skool: https://www.skool.com/flow-state 🗂️ Sign up to Supabase: https://supabase.link/b1VZg8p 🏆 Sign up to Lovable: https://lovable.dev/?via=bart 👉 Sign up to n8n: https://n8n.partnerlinks.io/lyzq2o8cky0o Timestamps 00:00 Overview 00:55 How tokens are consumed in OpenClaw 06:00 File management (agents.md, sole.md, memory.md bloat) 07:45 3 Things To Add To Your Agents md 10:07 Codex integration to avoid API costs on coding tasks 13:29 Model management (OpenRouter, routing tasks to cheaper models) 17:07 Heartbeats vs Cron jobs and their token cost implications 22:21 Using n8n to offload work from OpenClaw entirely 26:53 Session management (/status, /compact, /new commands) 30:33 Token Accountability (Spending Limits, Weekly Check-ins)