See [1] and [2] for an example of a support article that's had claude code removed as a Pro feature.

I guess this is the beginning of the end for subsidised model access, at least from Anthropic.

[1] https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8325606-what-is-the-p... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20260420065828/https://support.c...

https://web.archive.org/web/20260421141017/https://claude.co...

Edit: fixed the url thanks to scq

Opus 4.7 consumes tokens at a faster rate and folks were complaining that the Pro plan included too few credits for real work.

And Anthropic now allows `claude -p` (which invokes Claude code) for 3rd party agents like OpenClaw, which consume far more tokens by running autonomously, 24/7.

It is over for the little guy - home enthusiasts and vibe coders. Too many of them saturating resources for Max users.

IF you cannot afford few hundred dollars subscription go out and breathe fresh air. But if you can, watch where the ball is rolling - few thousand dollars subscriptions and even less programmers.

It makes no sense to do one of the higher tier plans unless they are directly generating you money.

I would not jump to conclusions yet.

After seeing my own issues with 4.6 and the mega-post on Github about declining metrics in a decent dataset of claude chats by Stella Laurenzo at AMD (https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/42796), I downgraded to the $100 plan. Hallucinations. Laziness. Lack of thinking. The responses on those mega-threads from Anthropic rubbed me the wrong way in a "you're holding it wrong" kinda way.

In the past week, I downgraded back to the $20 plan because the Codex $20 plan on 5.4 was working so well for me.

Then throw in other oddball events like the source code leak, and the super positive Anthropic events like their interactions with the current administration. It's a wild ride.

I can't understand removing Claude Code from $20. I'm interested to see whether this is confirmed or not.

I'm a career engineer and I went from being one of their most outspoken proponents (at least within my circle) and now.... I'm not.

I got rate limited after about 30mins of coding and was thinking, who the hell i going to work like this?

So they really seem to be running into extreme capacity issued now.

It is pure speculation of course, but I don't have any other explanations on the stuff they are pulling in the last 2 months.

Me: Why is your website saying Claude Code is not included in Claude Pro subscriptions?

"Fin", the slow, dopey AI agent: That’s confusing, but it usually comes down to what “Claude Code” means in that context. Claude Pro does include Claude Code (the Code tab in the desktop app, and Claude Code access for individuals).

What Pro does not include is API access via the Claude Console. Those are separate products: Pro is for chat, and the Console is for building apps with the API.

So if the website is saying “not included,” it’s likely referring to Console/API access, not the Claude Code feature itself.

Did that clear up the confusion?

Me: No. It clearly states on the pricing page that Claude Code is not included.

Fin: That’s frustrating, <NAME>. The key detail is that Claude Code is included in Claude Pro, but API access via the Claude Console is not.

So if the page you’re looking at says “Claude Code is not included,” it’s almost certainly referring to Console/API access (the developer platform), not the Claude Code feature itself.

If you tell me the exact URL or screenshot of the page that says that, I can confirm which “Code” it’s talking about.

Was that explanation helpful?

Me: https://claude.com/pricing

Fin: On https://claude.com/pricing, Pro does include Claude Code. It’s listed right there under Pro’s “Everything in Free, plus” bullets: “Includes Claude Code.” So if you’re seeing “not included” somewhere else on that page, it’s likely referring to something different than the Claude Code feature. The one thing Pro does not include is API access via the Claude Console (that’s a separate product).

Also, the Code tab in the desktop app requires a Pro (or Max/Team/Enterprise) subscription, and it may not show for everyone yet since it’s still rolling out.

Does that clear things up for you?

Me: there is clearly an "x" at this page. escalate to a human immediately.

and then the cycle continues. I'm cancelling my Anthropic subscription, sick of worrying about limits and getting banned and simply awful experience.

That sucks, I guess I'll cancel my Claude account. Not paying 100 dollars. That's crazy

Now I'm going to learn more about local models. I don't need to be as good as a frontier model. Good enough and free from all this drama is a win for me

https://claude.com/product/claude-code

Since then, I had to add:

"or won't let you log in?": https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/44257

"or makes stuff up?": https://dwyer.co.za/static/claude-mixes-up-who-said-what-and...

"or when it's down?": https://status.claude.com/incidents/6jd2m42f8mld

"or when you get banned?": https://bannedbyanthropic.com/

"or installs spyware?": https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/anthropic-spyware/

And this is all exclusively about Anthropic. It's insane. On any other tech, there would be a consensus to wait until it's stable, but not AI - we go full throttle when it's AI.

Genuinely curious how people who have implemented this in serious companies are answering these questions, because my answer is to keep it the fuck out.

https://claude.ai/share/1a4293bd-b2d4-41b7-a887-eb42b3ae8b6e

“ The standard answer here is no — Anthropic does not typically refund the unused portion of annual plans , and annual subscribers won’t see prorated refunds, retaining access for the full remaining period instead. That said, your situation is a bit different — you’re not just canceling, you’re canceling because a feature you paid for was removed. That’s worth contacting Anthropic support directly about. Their support team can check your refund eligibility , and this kind of material change to the plan is exactly the case where a support escalation could go differently than a standard cancellation. You can reach them through the in-app support messenger at support.claude.com or via the thumbs-down feedback button. I’d recommend explaining specifically that Claude Code was a factor in your annual plan purchase. ”

In general Anthropic seems to be pretty bad at clearly communicating what is going on. I have both Claude Pro for Claude Code and ChatGPT Plus for Codex, and lately I've been reaching for Codex first more and more often... at least for the hobby stuff I'm using Claude/Codex on, they seem pretty much equivalent in terms of practical capability/usefulness.

Anthropic better get this sorted out with a proper product manager and marketing or they risk customers jumping to easier to understand platforms that are good enough.

I think the only reason to do this would be that they just can't scale up to service the volume they have and need to cut down significantly on the total number of users. Seems also like a rough business proposition. Most of the pro plan users would probably migrate to a competitor at a similar price point (I know I will).

The only other possibility would be if they are losing too much money on the compute power and just can't offer it at that price anymore. But then upgrading the plan gives you more compute per dollar, so maybe they're just banking on people not actually using all of what they pay for?

I had previously thought that the inference cost of using a trained model was relatively low and that most costs went into training new models, but maybe that is less true with the more powerful newer models.

If it costs a ton more to serve Opus vs serving something like Kimi or Qwen, then I think most people just won't use the more expensive version for most things.

The folks hurt most by this are serious people in developing countries and young people starting out. Occasionally a dabbler turns into a serious user but I imagine that’s far less likely than people wish it were.

The value to companies who make these changes is they don’t have low value users or low value contributions to worry about, which has its own not insignificant overhead. In the age of AI slop everywhere we’re likely to see a lot more attempts to separate the wheat from the chaff.