OpenClaw vs Claude Cowork vs Perplexity Computer: Which AI Agent?
Posted Video released
OpenClaw, Claude Cowork and Perplexity Computer compared from public sources as of September 23, 2026: whether they work with your computer off, monthly cost, security issues and who each suits.
We put three AI agents that can use your computer and take on work like a colleague, OpenClaw, Claude Cowork and Perplexity Computer, into one table as of September 23, 2026. What separates them is "where it runs". OpenClaw is a free open-source tool that runs on your own machine, Cowork is included in the USD 20-per-month Claude subscription, and Perplexity Computer runs in the cloud with no installation and charges in credits. This post reorganizes the content of the YouTube video so it is easier to read. It is a roundup of public sources, not a test in which we ran the three services on the same task.
Conclusions first
- OpenClaw: a free open-source tool you install on your own machine, usable from more than 20 messengers, with a free choice of model. In exchange you need a machine that stays on 24 hours a day, and security and spending limits are your own responsibility.
- Claude Cowork: included from the USD 20-per-month Pro plan, suited to documents, spreadsheets and folder work, with approval safeguards. In exchange it uses only Claude models and runs within subscription limits.
- Perplexity Computer: in a no-install cloud it mixes more than 20 models for long research, and in exchange every task costs credits (100 credits = USD 1).
- All three have changed prices and configuration several times this year alone. Check the official pages again before using them.
How the information was gathered
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Official | Official sites, documentation, pricing pages and release notes (checked 2026-09-23 to 24) |
| Press / community | Foreign comparison articles, articles citing Reddit, Clien, GeekNews, and the questions and uses gathered from 16 YouTube comment threads |
| One person's case | Cost and incident cases. Not representative values, but what happened to one person |
There is no sponsorship. Cowork is an Anthropic product. The video description states that Anthropic's Claude was used in researching and editing the video, and that the verdicts were therefore written only from official sources and public cases, with Cowork's incidents and complaints included as well. This post contains no speed or performance numbers we measured ourselves.
Who the three are
OpenClaw began as a personal project posted last November by an Austrian developer, Peter Steinberger. Its first name was Warelay, and after Clawdbot and Moltbot it got its current name at the end of January. It is now run by a nonprofit foundation and has 390,000 GitHub stars, and its creator moved to OpenAI in February. It changes quickly enough that a new release came out even on the reference date, September 23.
Claude Cowork was released by Anthropic as a Mac-only preview in January and launched officially in April. Since September 16 it has been merging into the Claude chat rather than being a separate tab, so the older instruction to "click the Cowork tab" no longer applies.
Perplexity Computer came out on February 25. Given a goal, it splits the work and hands it to sub-agents, mixing more than 20 models. At launch, the core reasoning was handled by Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6.
Does it keep working if you turn the computer off?
| Service | Where it runs | If you turn the computer off |
|---|---|---|
| OpenClaw | Your own computer or server. Memory and passwords also stay on your machine | It stops when that machine is off. It has to stay on 24 hours, so Korean users recommend a spare Mac mini or a cheap cloud server |
| Claude Cowork | Touches files inside an isolated virtual machine on your computer | Work on your folders and screen needs the app to be on, but since July cloud sessions and scheduled tasks keep running with the computer off |
| Perplexity Computer | Cloud by default, so no installation | Keeps running. Since May, Mac and Windows apps can reach your files, and since August there is also Portable Computer, where even the models run on your device (it needs 24GB or more of graphics memory) |
How you give it work, and what people hand over most
OpenClaw connects to more than twenty messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack and Discord, and you give it work as if texting a friend and get the result back in the messenger. KakaoTalk has no official connection, only a plugin made by an individual. Cowork is used through the single Claude app. It has Dispatch, where giving work from your phone makes your home computer move, computer use, where it clicks the screen to use apps, and scheduled tasks that repeat weekly, and it asks for permission each time it enters a new app. Perplexity Computer is used on the web and in the app, and in Slack and Teams, where you can set up recurring tasks in Slack, with more than 400 connected tools.
The main uses gathered from YouTube comments and communities split like this (press / community).
- OpenClaw: a personal assistant driven from messengers, sorting email and calendars, a morning summary every day, 24-hour monitoring and alerts.
- Cowork: tidying folders, turning receipt photos into a spreadsheet expense report, turning piles of material into reports and presentations.
- Perplexity: long research run overnight, building small web apps, multi-step content production.
How much does it cost per month?
| Service | Pricing structure | Known complaints and cases |
|---|---|---|
| OpenClaw | The software is free. You pay for the model usage you connect and for the machine you keep on | A Clien user report concluded that a Google plan at USD 29 plus about USD 10 in tokens is realistic, and many comments say small local models are of little use |
| Claude Cowork | No separate credits. Included from the USD 20 Pro plan and used within the subscription limit. Not yet available on the free plan | Many posts say the weekly limit runs out by midweek even when used sparingly, and a complaint that the remaining amount is not shown as a number |
| Perplexity Computer | Credit-based. 100 credits = USD 1, and per the official guide one task costs 100 to 9,800 credits (USD 1 to USD 98). The USD 20 Pro plan has no monthly credits, only a 4,000-credit sign-up bonus, and the USD 200 Max plan has 10,000 credits a month | A post reporting measured usage: one code review used 21,000 credits, twice what Max gives in a month (one person's case) |
OpenClaw's problem is runaway spending. Posts have reported messenger bots falling into a loop of answering each other and costing USD 47 in 20 minutes, and in another case more than USD 380 in a day. Each is one person's case, but remember that model usage has no default cap. For users in Korea there is good news: Perplexity's official help states separately that unused credits can be refunded within 7 days of purchase.
Are my files safe?
Handing over your computer means handing over the risk along with it.
- OpenClaw: It has been criticized the most of the three. In January a vulnerability appeared that let code run remotely from a single link click, and it was fixed, and 341 malicious skills were found on the skill marketplace ClawHub, rising to more than 800 in mid-February. In early February Naver, Kakao and Danggeun banned internal use (press).
- Cowork: It has had incidents too. Within three days of launch an attack that exfiltrates files with hidden instructions was demonstrated, and several reports of working folders being deleted were filed on GitHub. Anthropic's official documentation also acknowledges the risk and says not to use it on banking, medical or financial sites, and permanent deletion must always ask for permission.
- Perplexity Computer: Each task runs in an isolated cloud, with audit logs and an emergency stop switch. We found no public security incident for the Computer itself. Still, you should weigh that your files are uploaded to a server, and that the same company's Comet browser had an attack steering it with hidden text disclosed last year.
The video's summary: who gets what
- If you can develop and want to give work by messenger to a machine that stays on 24 hours, OpenClaw. In exchange, security and spending limits are your responsibility.
- If you want to hand over documents, spreadsheets and folder work cheaply and with safeguards, Cowork.
- If you want long research and multi-step work done with no installation and can pay in credits, Perplexity Computer.
Limits and reference dates
- This is not a test in which the three services were run on the same task. There are no speed or performance judgments above, and prices, features and incidents come from official sources, public reports and community posts.
- The cost and runaway cases are each one person's experience and are not averages.
- Sources (from the video description): the OpenClaw GitHub and security documentation, Claude release notes, pricing and the guide to using Cowork safely, Perplexity's introduction post, credits guide (revised 2026-09-08) and Portable Computer post (2026-09-14), PromptArmor (2026-01-15), Koi Security's ClawHub investigation, Seoul Economic Daily (2026-02), Notebookcheck, a Clien user report (2026-02-09) and others.
- Reference dates: information as of 2026-09-23 (sources checked September 23 to 24), video published 2026-09-24. Prices and configurations have changed several times this year, so check the official pages again before using them. This post does not recommend any particular service.