Claude Code, the Pricing Gap, and the Rise of Build-Your-Own AI

On April 21, 2026, Anthropic quietly removed Claude Code from its $20 Pro plan. No email, no announcement, no changelog. People noticed because the pricing page changed overnight. A few hours later it got reverted, and Anthropic's Head of Growth posted on X that it was a test on 2% of new signups. Simon Willison wrote the best account of what happened . He pays for Claude Max himself and is not exactly a hater. His point is simple: the revert doesn't matter. What matters is that Anthropic consid