Anthropic has paused its planned billing overhaul, which would have restricted third-party tools like OpenClaw from using regular subscription limits. The company said in an email that 'nothing changes for now,' leaving usage within standard subscription limits unchanged. The original plan, set to take effect on June 15, would have separated Agent SDK, the claude -p command, and third-party apps from regular subscription credits, offering tiered monthly credits instead. This change had already drawn criticism from open-source developers, who accused Anthropic of favoring its own tools over alternatives.
The reversal is likely due to a combination of factors, including a brewing price war with OpenAI and an upcoming IPO. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is considering steep price cuts for its API, making a shift to usage-based billing counterproductive. Anthropic also filed IPO paperwork and wants to go public soon, so losing customers over an unpopular billing change before a listing could hurt its valuation. Additionally, enterprise customers are cutting AI spending as costs rise from flat rates to usage-based pricing, which can exceed several thousand dollars a month.
Anthropic had already banned third-party tools like OpenClaw from subscription limits in April, angering developers. OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger accused the company of absorbing popular features into its own system and then blocking open-source alternatives. Users could still run their setups through Claude Code/claude -p under their subscription, but the planned changes would have ended that workaround. The US government has also added pressure by ordering Anthropic to restrict global access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for non-US citizens. More billing restrictions in this environment could have driven away additional customers.
Source: thedecoder
