Best AI Model for OpenClaw After the Anthropic Ban (April 2026)
On April 4, 2026, Anthropic banned Claude Pro and Max subscriptions from powering third-party agent tools like OpenClaw. Within hours, thousands of developers were scrambling for alternatives. Two weeks later, the community has spoken: Kimi K2.5 is the new top pick, GLM 4.7 is the underrated workhorse, and MiniMax M2.7 is the budget champion.
This guide is based on community rankings from PricePerToken.com, 2,000+ Reddit comments across r/openclaw, Discord discussions, and independent testing. We break down every viable model by price, quality, and real OpenClaw performance so you can pick the right stack for your budget.
What Happened: The Anthropic Ban Explained
Anthropic announced that Claude Pro and Claude Max subscriptions can no longer be used to power third-party agent tools like OpenClaw. The ban is specific to subscription access. API access still works. If you were paying $20/month for Claude Pro and routing it through OpenClaw, that pipeline is dead. If you pay per token through the Anthropic API, nothing changed.
The community reaction was immediate and intense. Reddit threads filled with workaround attempts, alternative model recommendations, and heated debate about vendor lock-in. The practical upshot: most OpenClaw users need a new model, and they need it now.
Community Rankings: The Top 10 Models for OpenClaw
These rankings come from PricePerToken.com's community voting, updated April 7, 2026. Vote scores reflect real OpenClaw user experience with tool calling, multi-step planning, and long-context reliability.
1. Kimi K2.5 (Moonshot) — Community Favorite
Price: $0.383/$1.909 per million tokens, or $20/mo subscription
Vote score: +49 (highest of any model)
Kimi K2.5 won the community over for one reason: it delivers Sonnet-level quality at roughly 1/10th the cost. In practice, that means reliable tool calling, consistent multi-step reasoning, and enough instruction-following discipline to handle most OpenClaw workflows without constant hand-holding.
The tradeoff is speed. Kimi responds slower than Claude or GPT, and it needs more specific prompting than Claude to get the same results. But for the price, nothing comes close.
Reddit consensus: "Kimi K2.5 will get you sonnet level results or better. It's just a bit slower to respond." (7 upvotes)
2. GLM 4.7 (Z.AI) — The Underrated Agentic Model
Price: $0.390/$1.750 per million tokens, or $10/mo subscription
Vote score: +20
GLM 4.7 handles agentic loops well and runs smooth for 24/7 use cases. One Reddit user reported running a research station on it for a month with no issues. The $10/mo plan is one of the best values available.
Important caveat: GLM 5 and 5.1 are a different story. The community consensus on GLM 5.x is strongly negative: "absolute garbage for agentic tasks," "like talking to a person on crack," "flooded Telegram with code dumps." Stick with 4.7.
3. Claude Opus 4.5 (API Only) — Still the Quality King
Price: $5/$25 per million tokens
Vote score: +18
Claude remains the best model for tool calling, instruction following, and safety. The subscription is gone, but API access works perfectly. If you can afford pay-per-token pricing, Claude Opus and Sonnet still deliver the most reliable agentic experience available.
Most power users are keeping a small API budget for Claude while routing daily tasks to cheaper models.
4. Gemini 3 Flash (Google) — Speed and Volume
Price: $0.50/$3.00 per million tokens
Vote score: +18
Gemini 3 Flash is fast, cheap, and surprisingly capable for routine tasks. It does not match Claude on precision or Kimi on value, but for high-volume, low-stakes work, it gets the job done. The million-token context window is also a genuine advantage for document-heavy workflows.
5-8. The Budget Contenders
- GPT-5.2 ($1.75/$14) — Solid general-purpose, but subscription quotas are tightening. Works via OAuth workaround.
- DeepSeek V3 ($0.014/$0.028) — Absurdly cheap, strong for code, but forgets details in long conversations.
- MiniMax M2.1 ($0.27/$0.95) — Solid budget option for agentic tasks.
- MiniMax M2.5 ($0.12/$0.95) — The cheapest model that still handles OpenClaw workflows reasonably well.
MiniMax M2.7: The Budget Champion
MiniMax deserves its own section because it has become the go-to budget option for OpenClaw users. The M2.7 model was specifically built for agentic tasks, and it shows. Community testing puts it at roughly 80% of Opus capability for most daily tasks.
The analogy from one Reddit user is perfect: "If Opus and GPT are like CTOs, MiniMax behaves like an eager mid-level developer. Talented, willing to try anything, but still immature. It constantly breaks rules. I have to constantly remind it to follow the MD file instructions."
What it does well: Email management, calendar operations, web browsing, simple automations, routine task execution.
What it struggles with: Browser automation, complex multi-step reasoning, strict instruction adherence, tasks requiring nuance.
Privacy note: MiniMax is a Chinese model hosted on Chinese servers. The pricing reflects that. If you handle sensitive data (legal, financial, health), consider this carefully.
Which Subscription Plans Work with OpenClaw?
Since the Anthropic ban, several providers offer subscription plans compatible with OpenClaw:
| Provider | Plan | Price | Models Included | OpenClaw? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ollama Cloud | Pro | $20/mo | GLM, Kimi, MiniMax, Qwen, Gemma | Best value |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT Plus + OAuth | $20/mo | GPT-5.x family | Yes |
| Moonshot | Kimi Token Plan | $20/mo | Kimi K2.5 | Yes |
| Z.AI | GLM Plan | $10/mo | GLM 4.7/5 | Yes |
| MiniMax | Token Plan | $10/mo | M2.5/M2.7 | Yes |
| Stepfun | Plan | $6-10/mo | Step 3.5 | Limited |
| Mistral | Subscription | $15/mo | Mistral family | Limited |
| Anthropic | Pro/Max | $20-100/mo | Claude family | Banned |
The Ollama Cloud Pro plan at $20/mo is the best single subscription value because it gives you access to GLM, Kimi, MiniMax, Qwen, and Gemma all in one plan. Multiple Reddit users confirmed this is the most cost-effective way to get multi-model coverage.
The ChatGPT Plus + OAuth workaround was the most upvoted solution on Reddit (45 upvotes). It works, but OpenAI has been tightening quotas on business plans, suggesting this may not last forever.
Recommended Stacks by Budget
Budget Stack ($10-20/mo total)
- MiniMax M2.7 for daily agent tasks
- DeepSeek V3 for code help
- Total: approximately $10-15/mo
Power User Stack ($40-60/mo)
- Kimi K2.5 as primary model
- Claude API (pay-per-token) for heavy reasoning
- GPT-5 via OAuth as backup
- Total: approximately $40-60/mo depending on API usage
Maximum Quality Stack ($100+/mo)
- Claude Opus 4.6 API for critical tasks
- GPT-5.4 API for coding
- Kimi K2.5 for routine and volume work
- Total: $100+/mo
Free/Privacy Stack ($0)
- Ollama local with Qwen3 Coder or Llama 3.3
- Qwen3 30B (free API tier)
- Requires: M-series Mac with 32GB+ RAM or equivalent
Models to Avoid
Not every alternative is worth your time. Based on community testing:
- GLM 5.x — Heavily criticized for hallucination and ignoring instructions. The 4.7 version is great; 5.x is not. Multiple reports of flooding channels with code dumps and failing basic agentic loops.
- Xiaomi MiMo V2 Pro — Terrible credit system. One user reported burning through a month's quota in a single day after filling just two session contexts. Avoid until they fix the billing.
- MiniMax for browser automation — Works fine for email, calendar, and file tasks, but browser automation is inconsistent. If you rely heavily on web browsing, use Kimi or Claude instead.
The Big Takeaway: Run Two or Three Models
The honest answer from the community is that most people should run two or three models and route between them. Use a cheap model for simple tasks, a mid-tier model for daily work, and a premium model for the hard stuff.
The Anthropic ban did not kill OpenClaw. It accelerated the shift to multi-model setups that were already happening. The tools and pricing exist today to build a setup that is 80% as good as a pure Claude stack at 20% of the cost. For most users, that is more than enough.
Start with Kimi K2.5 as your daily driver. Add Claude API credits for when you need top-tier reasoning. Keep GPT as a backup via OAuth. That combination covers 99% of OpenClaw use cases and costs less than a single Claude Max subscription did.
Next Steps
If you are new to OpenClaw, start with the OpenClaw setup guide to get a working configuration. For a broader overview of what OpenClaw can do, see What is OpenClaw. And if you want to understand the security implications of giving an AI agent broad system access, our OpenClaw security guide covers the essentials.
Already running OpenClaw with a new model? Share your setup in the comments below. The community rankings on PricePerToken.com are live, so your vote actually shapes what others see first.
