Recently, the renowned AI startup Anthropic conducted a secret test on its Claude Pro subscription benefits. Some users found that when trying to subscribe to the $20 monthly Claude Pro membership, the benefit page clearly indicated that it no longer includes the Claude Code feature. This change quickly sparked widespread discussion among developers, as for many programmers, Claude Code was the core reason for choosing a paid subscription.
Currently, Anthropic's subscription system mainly consists of the $20 Pro version and the Max version starting at $100. Under the previous rules, both subscriptions could use full features, with the main difference being that the Max version offers a higher (typically 5 to 20 times) Claude Code usage quota. If this adjustment is ultimately implemented, it would mean that developers wishing to use this feature may be forced to switch to the Max subscription, which is several times more expensive, even if their usage does not reach an extremely high level.
In response to this situation, Anthropic's engineers later provided an official explanation. According to the information, the company is currently in an A/B testing phase, and the affected users account for about 2% of new subscribers. The remaining 98% of new users and all existing subscribers (including Pro and Max levels) can still enjoy the current benefits without any disruption for now.
Industry analysts believe that this move may be part of the company's attempt to guide high-frequency users of the related features toward higher-priced packages through feature differentiation. For users planning to sign up for the service soon, it is recommended to carefully check the benefit list before payment. If the page shows that it does not include Claude Code, you can try changing your network environment or re-registering an account to bypass the test tag, ensuring you get the most complete service experience at the same price.
