Anthropic is removing OpenClaw from its Claude subscriptions

Anthropic is blocking OpenClaw – at least for customers of its subscription models for the Claude AI model family. Access for third-party tools is now blocked, the AI manufacturer announced.

OpenClaw developer Peter Steinberger, who originally started the tool as a hobby project and is now employed by OpenAI, personally tried to persuade those responsible at Anthropic to change their minds. “Reasoning with them,” as he describes it. But the joint attempt with OpenClaw colleague Dave Morin was unsuccessful.

Add-on packages can be booked

However, there is still a chance that the OpenClaw fun will continue for Claude subscribers: They can book add-on packages to their regular subscription, which can then also be used for third-party tools like OpenClaw, Anthropic announced. Those who use Claude via the API are not affected and can continue to operate OpenClaw with this Claude access.

Using OpenClaw with a Claude subscription was actually not intended from the beginning. However, when configuring OpenClaw, there was a way to still use tokens from the Claude subscription for the AI assistant. Claude's head of code, Boris Cherny, also emphasized again that the subscriptions are not designed for third-party tools and mentioned a sharp increase in Claude demand. Capacities must be managed carefully, with API customers having priority.

OpenClaw's token consumption can be enormous

Massive token consumption was already observed in the Heise video magazine c’t 3003. In January, OpenClaw was tested extensively here – operated with a Claude API. After one day of using OpenClaw with the Claude Opus AI model, 109.55 US dollars in AI tokens had already been spent. These are the smallest linguistic units that AI models need to process text and the common way to measure monetary costs for AI usage.

For comparison: Anthropic calculates that for a software developer in a team that professionally uses Claude Code, the average cost is 6 dollars per day. This assumes that 90 percent of team members stay below 12 dollars in their daily costs.

The current change is likely to affect primarily private users who cover their own needs with a Claude subscription. If the burden of these private OpenClaw enthusiasts is now lifted from Anthropic's servers, it is primarily Claude API customers, who are mostly active in the professional field, who will benefit. In other regions, the use of tools like OpenClaw is completely ruled out: For example, Chinese authorities recently issued bans on AI agents on office computers, fearing security risks due to autonomous data access.

(nen)