Anthropic Launches Monthly Credit Pool for AI Agents

Anthropic is introducing a programmatic credit pool for all paid tiers starting June 15, separating agentic AI usage from standard subscription chat credits. Monthly allocations range from $20 to $200 depending on tier, allowing users to connect third-party agent frameworks like OpenClaw to Claude until credits are exhausted. The move follows Anthropic cutting off third-party agent access through standard subscriptions last month, citing server strain. Critics argue the change is a downgrade for power users, noting credits do not roll over and heavy users could exhaust them within days. Anthropic joins GitHub and other providers in metering agentic AI compute separately from flat subscriptions.