On April 4, Anthropic announced that Claude Code subscribers will no longer be able to access third-party integrations like OpenClaw as part of their existing subscription quotas. According to a customer notice circulating on Hacker News, as of noon Pacific Time on April 4, users must pay for OpenClaw through a separate, pay-as-you-go model outside of their current subscription plans.
Anthropic stated that this policy is not limited to OpenClaw and will eventually be extended to all third-party tools. Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, explained on X that the company’s current subscription model cannot sustain the usage patterns associated with these third-party tools. He noted that the move is intended to "prudently manage growth to ensure we can continue serving our customers in the long term."
A Divide Between Developers and the Company
The change has sparked frustration among developers. Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, has since joined competitor OpenAI while continuing to maintain OpenClaw as an open-source project. Steinberger revealed on X that he and OpenClaw board member Dave Morin had attempted to negotiate with Anthropic, but only succeeded in delaying the price hike by one week.
Steinberger questioned Anthropic's decision, commenting on social media: "It’s interesting how the timing is so coincidental. They first copy popular features into their own closed-source tools, and then they lock out open-source projects."
