Anthropic says Claude Code users must pay extra for OpenClaw usagev

Anthropic is introducing a pricing change that will make it more costly for Claude Code subscribers to use its coding assistant alongside OpenClaw and similar third-party integrations.

According to an email sent to customers and later shared on Hacker News, the company stated that beginning at noon Pacific on April 4, subscribers will no longer be able to rely on their existing Claude subscription limits when using third-party harnesses, including OpenClaw. Instead, this usage will now be billed separately under a "pay-as-you-go" model, charged independently from your main subscription.

Anthropic clarified that while OpenClaw is the first to be affected, the new policy is not limited to a single tool. The company indicated that the same pricing structure will extend to all third-party harnesses, with a broader rollout expected in the near future.

Boris Cherny, who leads Claude Code at Anthropic, addressed the update publicly, explaining that the company's subscription model was not originally designed to support the usage patterns associated with third-party tools. He noted that the shift reflects a broader effort by Anthropic to manage its growth more deliberately and ensure it can continue serving users sustainably over time.

The timing of this change comes shortly after OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger announced he would be joining OpenAI, a direct competitor to Anthropic. Despite his move, OpenClaw will continue to operate as an open-source project, now backed by OpenAI.

Steinberger also shared that he and OpenClaw board member Dave Morin had attempted to convince Anthropic to reconsider its pricing decision. While they were able to delay the change briefly, the adjustment ultimately moved forward after about a week.

He expressed frustration over the situation, suggesting that Anthropic first replicated certain popular features within its own ecosystem and then restricted access for open-source integrations.

Cherny responded to those concerns by emphasising that the Claude Code team remains supportive of open-source initiatives. He pointed out that he had personally contributed improvements to enhance prompt cache efficiency for OpenClaw. According to him, the pricing change is driven more by engineering limitations than by any intent to limit open-source collaboration.

He also noted that Anthropic is offering full refunds to affected subscribers, acknowledging that some users may not have realised that using third-party harnesses was outside the subscription's terms.

At the same time, OpenAI has been making its own strategic adjustments. The company recently discontinued its Sora app and related video generation models, reportedly to reallocate computing resources and sharpen its focus on attracting developers and enterprise customers—an area where tools like Claude Code have been gaining traction.