Anthropic keeps taking features away from Claude Pro, and I'm running out of reasons to defend it
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Anthropic has been systematically reducing what Claude Pro and Max subscriptions cover. In April, third-party tools like OpenClaw were removed from subscription limits, requiring full API-rate billing. In May, programmatic usage via the Agent SDK was separated into a new credit pool at full API pricing — framed as a 'free bonus' but actually a reduction in value. Anthropic also quietly A/B tested removing Claude Code from the $20 Pro tier. The author notes the irony that Anthropic announced a SpaceX compute deal to ease limits just one week before announcing the Agent SDK change. The pattern — strip features, absorb backlash, offer a small goodwill gesture, repeat — mirrors moves by Google at I/O 2026, suggesting this may be the new normal for AI subscription pricing.
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Claude's paid subscriptions no longer cover programmatic useAnthropic also stripped third-party tools back in AprilAnthropic's deal with SpaceX should theoretically have eased thisThey've also quietly been testing what they can get away with removingSort: