Anthropic Removes Claude Code from Pro Subscription; OpenAI Confirms Codex Remains Free

According to monitoring by Beating, Anthropic has removed Claude Code from its Pro subscription without issuing an announcement, only updating the pricing page. New Pro users who wish to use Claude Code must upgrade to the Max subscription starting at $100/month. Amol Avasare, Anthropic’s head of growth, later clarified on X that this is a small-scale test affecting about 2% of newly registered Pro users, and existing Pro and Max subscribers are not impacted. Amol explained that when Max was launched a year ago, it did not include Claude Code, and features like Cowork and long-running agents were not available, as it was designed solely for heavy chatting. After Claude Code was integrated into Max, usage increased significantly following the release of Opus 4, with long-running asynchronous agents becoming part of daily workflows, leading to a substantial rise in average usage among subscribers, which the existing subscription was not designed for. Anthropic had previously imposed weekly limits and peak hour restrictions, and is still testing different options and collecting feedback. He promised that if the final plan affects existing subscribers, they would be notified well in advance, stating, ‘The message will come from us, not from screenshots on X or Reddit.’ OpenAI Codex head Thibault Sottiaux promptly stated on X that Codex will continue to be available in the Free and Plus ($20/month) subscriptions, emphasizing that OpenAI has the computing power and efficient models to support this, and that any major changes will be communicated to the community in advance, asserting, ‘Transparency and trust are two principles we will not undermine, even if it means earning less in the short term.’ Sam Altman retweeted Tibo’s post with the comment, ‘We want you to have lots of AI.’