It’s about to get more expensive for Claude Code subscribers to use Anthropic’s coding assistant with OpenClaw and other third-party tools.

 

In an email shared on Hacker News, Anthropic said that starting at noon Pacific on April 4, subscribers will no longer be able to use their existing Claude subscription limits with third-party harnesses like OpenClaw. Instead, any such usage will be billed separately through a pay-as-you-go model.

 

The company noted that while the change begins with OpenClaw, it will apply to all third-party harnesses and expand further over time.

 

Claude Code lead Boris Cherny explained on X that the current subscription model wasn’t designed for the usage patterns of third-party tools. He said Anthropic is making the change to better manage growth and ensure long-term sustainability.

 

The move follows news that OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger is joining Anthropic rival OpenAI, with OpenClaw continuing as an open-source project backed by OpenAI.

 

Steinberger said he and board member Dave Morin attempted to push back on Anthropic’s decision, but only managed to delay the pricing change by a week. He criticized the timing, suggesting Anthropic first replicated popular features before restricting open-source integrations.

 

Cherny pushed back on that characterization, emphasizing the team’s support for open source and noting his own recent contributions to improving OpenClaw. He said the decision is driven by engineering constraints, not philosophy, and added that refunds are available for affected subscribers.

 

Meanwhile, OpenAI has reportedly shut down its Sora app and video generation models as part of a broader effort to reallocate computing resources and focus on developers and enterprise users—areas where tools like Claude Code are gaining traction.