Anthropic has ended free access to its Claude AI for users of third-party applications like OpenClaw. Starting 3 p.m. ET on April 4, such users must purchase a usage bundle or obtain a Claude API key. The change addresses engineering constraints amid rising demand.
Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, announced the policy shift on X. He stated that Claude subscriptions no longer support free usage through third-party tools. Users of apps like OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant for automating tasks such as managing emails and calendars, now face new requirements to continue with Claude as their language model backend alongside options like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. Cherny explained the decision stems from capacity management. “We’ve been working hard to meet the increase in demand for Claude, and our subscriptions weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools,” he wrote. “Capacity is a resource we manage thoughtfully and we are prioritizing our customers using our products and API.” Affected users can buy discounted usage bundles or switch to alternatives including xAI, Perplexity, or DeepSeek. Anthropic offers its own tool, Claude Cowork, for similar workflow tasks.
