Which free cloud platform works best for running OpenClaw?

Question

So I've been getting back into Captain Claw lately because of that OpenClaw project and I really want to set up a dedicated instance so my friends and I can mess around with the multiplayer over the weekend. I'm looking for a totally free tier since I'm broke right now after paying rent lol. I'm stuck between a few choices:

Oracle Cloud's always free tier because those arm instances seem beefy

Google Cloud free tier but that e2-micro feels like it might lag?

Oracle seems like the best bet but I've heard their sign up is a total nightmare and they just randomly delete accounts for no reason. Does anyone know which one actually handles the OpenClaw binaries without crashing every ten minutes?

ninmoepeip · Accepted Answer

I have utilized an Amazon Web Services EC2 t2.micro Instance for my smaller game projects over the last year. The uptime is excellent and im satisfied with the overall stability. My tip is to configure billing alerts immediately so data egress costs dont sneak up on you. Keeping everything within a strict budget is totally doable.

Edwardamoli · Answer

Honestly i have been using these free tiers for a long time and i am very satisfied with how Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Always Free ARM instance performs for hobby projects. For OpenClaw you really need the extra overhead to keep the multiplayer from stuttering. Here is the breakdown from my experience:

Oracle Free Tier: You get 24GB of RAM and 4 ARM cores. This is easily the best value for zero cost. It runs the game logic perfectly and i have had no complaints with uptime.

Google Cloud: The Google Cloud Platform e2-micro instance is just too weak. With only 1GB of RAM the OS eats most of it and you are gonna see crashes when friends join. The signup process for Oracle is a bit of a mess but it is worth the effort... just be patient with the identity verification. Once it is setup it is basically set and forget and works well for a dedicated instance.