Anthropic Forces Claude Code Users to Pay Extra for OpenClaw and Third-Party AI Agent Access

It's about to become more expensive for Claude Code subscribers to use Anthropic's coding assistant with OpenClaw and other third-party tools. Effective April 4, subscribers can "no longer be able to use your Claude subscription limits for third-party harnesses including OpenClaw," according to a customer email shared on Hacker News. Instead, subscribers must now pay for extra usage through a pay-as-you-go option billed separately — and the policy applies to all third-party harnesses, with more to be rolled out soon. The policy change affects an estimated 135,000+ active OpenClaw instances. Anthropic's Head of Claude Code Boris Cherny said subscriptions "weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools." OpenClaw's creator Peter Steinberger recently joined Anthropic rival OpenAI, with the open-source project continuing under ChatGPT's backer. Steinberger said he tried to "talk sense into Anthropic" but only delayed enforcement by a week, accusing the company of first copying popular features, then locking out open source. Anthropic is offering full refunds for subscribers who want to exit.

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