Anthropic Marks Usage Bundles Launch With Up to $200 in Free Claude Credits

Anthropic had planned to change how usage is calculated for paid Claude subscriptions starting June 15. Usage from ordinary interactive conversations would be measured separately from programmatic and automated activity through tools such as the Agent SDK, with a dedicated monthly allowance for the latter. The change was intended to prevent high-frequency automated workloads from consuming capacity meant for everyday conversations and to promote fairness across different use cases.

Anthropic has now postponed the new Agent SDK billing system. Claude subscribers will remain subject to their existing usage limits for the time being, with no immediate switch on June 15. Estimates indicate that current subscriptions may subsidize programmatic use by as much as 30 times the standard cost. Anthropic has yet to announce a launch date for the new system or the monthly allowances for each plan.

Anthropic originally included its agentic software-development tool Claude Code in the $20-a-month Pro plan, giving individual developers access at a lower price. Because such AI agents autonomously perform multistep tasks, they carry higher computing and inference costs. Any plan changes would affect product adoption, cost recovery and pricing transparency.

As of July 19, 2026, Anthropic was conducting a limited test involving about 2% of some new users, removing Claude Code from the $20-a-month Pro plan and requiring at least a $100-a-month Max subscription instead. The company stressed that the change had not been rolled out broadly and said the test was designed to assess the cost structure and pricing strategy for resource-intensive agentic AI features.

Anthropic’s Claude Pro and Max plans previously allowed third-party agent tools such as OpenClaw to use subscription allowances through OAuth tokens, enabling high-volume users to engage in “subscription arbitrage.” Anthropic said agent services consume substantial computing resources and were crowding out capacity for its official Claude and Claude Code products, prompting changes to its authorization and billing policies.

Anthropic said that from April 4, 2026, Pro and Max subscription allowances could no longer be used by third-party tools such as OpenClaw. Users must instead purchase prepaid extra-usage credits or obtain an official API key and pay based on usage. Anthropic later restored OpenClaw integration but shifted billing to “Agent SDK credits,” ending free use of subscription allowances.

Anthropic’s generative AI assistant Claude imposes usage limits based on subscription tiers, reflecting how AI service providers are balancing computing costs with consumer demand. The promotion targets non-enterprise users and encourages them to shift activity to off-peak hours by doubling their usage allowance. It has drawn particular attention in Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia because the promotional window largely overlaps with daytime working hours.

Anthropic announced a two-week promotion running from March 13 to March 27, 2026. Eligible non-enterprise Claude users will receive twice their normal usage allowance during off-peak hours. The official window corresponds to 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. Taiwan time, covering most working and school hours, with no additional payment required.