Anthropic's Claude Code Removal Sparks Developer Backlash; OpenAI Gains Community Support

Gate News message, April 22 — Anthropic is testing the removal of Claude Code, its terminal tool, from its $20 Pro subscription plan, triggering widespread criticism from developers. According to Beating, users have accused Anthropic of poor communication and “greedy” practices, condemning the unannounced change as a hidden price increase that undermines tool reliability. Many developers have vowed to cancel their subscriptions.

Meanwhile, community sentiment is visibly shifting toward OpenAI. OpenAI has explicitly committed to keeping Codex available in free and basic subscription tiers, while its recent model performance has impressed users. GPT-5.4, the flagship model, exceeded human expert baselines on tests including OSWorld computer usage benchmarks, and the newly launched ChatGPT Images 2.0 topped the Image Arena leaderboard.

The contrast in commercial strategy and solid model performance is accelerating user migration. Developers previously reliant on Claude Code are switching to Codex, with some joking that Anthropic is essentially giving OpenAI free access to users. According to official data released yesterday, Codex has surpassed 4 million weekly active users.