Does it ever feel like the AI world is moving so fast that if you barely blink, everything suddenly has a new name? Yeah, same here. We've gone through our own identity crisis and, to be honest, looking back now—it's hilarious in a "should-I-be-in-therapy" kind of way. If you've ever wondered, "Weren't these guys called something else last month?", then this right here is for you.
Don't fall for overpriced AI clones. We're laying out the entire origin story of Openclaw AI, how an API-first approach keeps it affordable, and why we run at max performance without burning a hole through your pathetic wallet.



The Identity Odyssey: Why Openclaw AI Kept Changing Its Name

AI moves at warp speed. New models drop, benchmarks flip overnight, and half the tools you loved yesterday are suddenly "legacy." In that craziness, branding can feel like trying to name a toddler who keeps growing out of its clothes every single week. We get the confusion. People see our old names pop up in ancient Reddit threads and go "huh?". That is totally fair.
Here's the real talk though: names changed, but the mission never did. We've always been obsessed with one thing—giving you a clean, no-BS API interface that hooks directly into the best LLMs without the extra drama or hidden fees. That core stayed rock solid while the label got a few desperate facelifts.

The "CC" Confusion: From Clawdbot AI to a Nickname Nightmare

Way back, we launched as Clawdbot AI. Solid name, right? Catchy, descriptive, had that "bot" vibe everyone was using to feel relevant. Then the internet did what the internet does best—it butchered and shortened everything. Users started calling us CC in Discords, Slacks, GitHub issues, everywhere. "Hey, drop some CC tips," or "Is CC down rn?"
It started off as cute. Then Anthropic's Claude Code tooling exploded... and guess what the community instantly nicknamed that too? CC. Cue the total clusterfuck. Picture this poor dev in a forum: "Yo, I need CC help with tool calling," and he gets 47 replies about Claude Code debugging and zero about our actual tool. Brutal. Confusing. A total waste of everyone's precious life force. We had to do something before we lost our minds.



The Midnight Pivot: Why Moltbot AI Was a Short-Lived Phase

It was during one of those late-night team chats—way too much coffee, zero sleep, borderline caffeine-induced hallucinations—that we finally decided to get rid of CC. "Let's just drop the baggage," someone said, probably while staring into the abyss.
Moltbot AI. Why "molt"? Think about snakes or crabs shedding their crusty shells so they can grow—shedding old skin to become bigger n stronger or whatsoever — just fits perfectly with software because every major release counts as a shed anyway — dumping legacy crap, emerging shinier, handling more tokens, faster inference, better reliability... It sounded poetic. It looked cool on a logo mockup.
But... real life hit us like a hangover. Moltbot still had "bot" in it, which started feeling too toy-like as we matured into a proper platform. Plus, the name change barely dented the search confusion—people were still typing the old names like zombies. We needed something cleaner, stronger, and more future-proof. So Moltbot AI had its 15 minutes... then quietly molted one last time.

Why Openclaw AI is the Final Destination for Smart Users

And here we are—Openclaw AI. "Open" because we're all about flexibility: bring your own keys, pick whatever model you want, and for the love of god, no lock-in. "Claw" because we grab exactly what you need with precision and don't let go—strong reasoning, reliable uptime, and zero fluff.
We dropped the 'bot' suffix entirely. Bots are disposable trash. We're building a platform you actually park your workflow on for years, not some weekend toy for tech bros. The biggest win? Stability. The infra under Openclaw AI is the most battle-tested version yet. Fewer breaking changes, better docs, and tighter integrations. This name isn't going anywhere, mostly because we're too tired to change the logo again.

Master Your Workflow: Supported LLM APIs (and the Exceptions)

Here's where Openclaw really starts to feel unfair to the competition. You bring your own API keys, and suddenly you're running the heavy hitters: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Llama 3.1 405B. All through one clean, unified interface. Switch models in two lines of code, without rewriting your entire prompt pipeline like a peasant.

● Quick reality check though: Mini Max? Not supported right now. Their API is still too quirky and weird for reliable integration.
● Why this matters: you are paying the model providers directly.

No middleman is three-times'ing the price just because they slapped a halfway-decent UI on top. Openclaw AI keeps it raw and cheap.

Scam Alert: How to Spot AI "Fee Traps" and Wrappers

The AI tool market right now? A goddamn Wild West. Every week some shiny new "AI wrapper" launches with a $49/month "Pro" plan, "unlimited" usage that mysteriously throttles after 200 requests, and zero info about which backend model you're actually hitting.

Here are some classic red flags: "Usage credits" that vanish at the end of the month like your will to live, no BYOK option because they want to force their marked-up keys on you, and vague "powered by the latest models" claims with zero version numbers. Don't fall for it. Stay with a service where you hold the keys, see exactly what's running, and only pay what the actual provider charges. That's being wallet-friendly. No "shock and awe" on the credit card bill.



Conclusion: Call it By its Name

At the end of the day, a name is just a sticker slapped on a box to identify what's inside. What really matters to us? What's inside: how fast it runs, whether it falls over every five minutes, and not wasting your cash. We were Clawdbot AI, we were the accidental CC, we even became Moltbot AI for a hot minute… and now we're proudly Openclaw AI.
Sick of massively overpaying for yet another rebranded clone with literally zero added value? BYOK, choose your preferred frontier model flavor, and build like you've never built before with absolutely no monthly subscription guilt. Jump into the Openclaw AI ecosystem and Moltbook today. Your bank account will thank you—and honestly, so will your future self who doesn't have to migrate again because the tool folded under "growth pains."