Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) firm behind the chatbot Claude, has raised prices for developers using its Claude Code tool with third-party agent tools like OpenClaw. Due to the change, some tools that were previously part of subscriptions will now cost extra. The move comes as demand for advanced AI agent workflows rises and the cost of supporting them grows.
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Trade NVDA with leverageAnthropic Shifts OpenClaw Support to “Pay-As-You-Go Model”
According to a customer email shared by reliable sources, Anthropic said that starting at noon Pacific Time on April 4, subscribers will “no longer be able to use Claude subscription limits for third-party harnesses, including OpenClaw.”
Claude Code is widely used by developers to write, review, and manage software using AI. Meanwhile, OpenClaw support allows the assistant to use external tools and workflows to help automate coding tasks.
Anthropic now plans to treat these tools as premium features rather than part of the standard subscription. The company said monthly subscribers can still access Claude models, including Claude Opus, Claude Sonnet, and Claude Haiku, through third-party agents.
However, usage must now be paid for separately via Anthropic’s API or the new pay-as-you-go option. Anthropic also added that while the change begins with OpenClaw, the policy “applies to all third-party harnesses and will be rolled out.” Developers who rely on OpenClaw may therefore face higher costs depending on how often they use the feature.
Anthropic Defends Pricing Shift
The pricing change comes after Claude Code’s leak revealed details about its “agentic harness design.” It also follows OpenClaw’s creator, Peter Steinberger, joining OpenAI, a major rival to Anthropic. Steinberger said OpenClaw will continue as an open-source project with support from OpenAI.
Steinberger added that he and OpenClaw board member Dave Morin “tried to talk sense into Anthropic” but were only able to delay the pricing increase by one week. He also criticized the timing of the move, writing on X, “Funny how timings match up, first they copy some popular features into their closed harness, then they lock out open source.”
Anthropic, however, said the decision was not meant to restrict open-source tools. The company explained that agent-style tools such as OpenClaw and Manis require more computing power than normal chat use and consume tokens faster.
To manage demand from heavy users, the company has already placed limits, including a five-hour session cap during peak periods. Anthropic also said it is offering full refunds to affected subscribers.
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