Anthropic: Claude subscription service will no longer include access rights to third-party tools such as OpenClaw.

Mars Finance news: AI company Anthropic announced that, starting at 15:00 on April 4 (U.S. Eastern Time), it will prohibit access to third-party tools through the Claude subscription service, including the open-source project OpenClaw. The new rules require that the relevant features can only be used via an additional plan or API metered billing. This change means that developers and teams that heavily rely on OpenClaw to build automated workflows will shift from the previous fixed subscription cost model to an uncapped metered pay-as-you-go system, and overall usage costs will rise significantly. Some developers said that what used to cost about $20 per month could jump to several hundred or even over $1,000. The market generally believes this move is related to OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger’s recent decision to join OpenAI. Meanwhile, Anthropic is accelerating the promotion of its own tool ecosystem, including Claude-native integration options, to replace third-party toolchains. It’s worth noting that Anthropic has previously tightened third-party access step by step through technical restrictions, updates to service terms, and feature substitutions. This policy is seen as a “final lockout” and will be rolled out to more tools. Industry analysis indicates that the incident reflects an intensifying trend of AI platforms “tightening their ecosystems,” with leading vendors strengthening their control through vertical integration. At the same time, the developer ecosystem faces rising cost uncertainty and platform dependency risk, which may further push some users to switch to more open alternative solutions.