Claude costs between $0 and $200 a month for individuals. Free costs nothing, Pro is $20, Max is $100 and Ultra is $200. Teams pay from $25 per seat, and Enterprise charges $20 per seat plus usage at API rates.
Sounds simple.
But:
Behind the plan names are mostly different amounts of usage, and Anthropic does not state them as a message count but as multiples. If you only look at the price, it is easy to buy the wrong plan.
I have used Claude Code every day since mid-2025. In this article I show you every plan with its price, what each one unlocks in the chat app, in Cowork and in Claude Code, and which plan fits whom. I checked every detail against Anthropic's official pricing pages.
- Claude comes as Free ($0), Pro ($20), Max ($100) and Ultra ($200) for individuals, plus Team (from $25 per seat) and Enterprise ($20 per seat plus API-rate usage)
- Opus and Claude Code start with Pro. Free includes Sonnet and Haiku, but neither Opus nor Claude Code
- Chat, Cowork and Claude Code share one allowance that resets in a rolling 5-hour window. Every paid plan adds a weekly limit on top
- Max gives 5x Pro usage, Ultra 10x weekly usage and, for verified accounts, no 5-hour limit
- Annual billing for Pro saves $40 a year. Max and Ultra are monthly only
Claude pricing at a glance
Prices are in US dollars as shown on Anthropic's pricing page, before any taxes. The checkout shows your final amount.
| Plan | Price | Features | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreeFree for everyone. | $0/month | Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5, web search, files, artifacts Up to 5 projects Rolling 5-hour limit, no weekly limit No Opus, no Claude Code | For trying Claude out |
| ProRecommended$200 billed up front when you pay annually ($17/month). | $20/month | At least 5x Free usage per 5-hour session Opus 5.5 and Claude Code in one shared pool Weekly limit across all models Fable 5.1 only via usage credits | The default for individuals |
| MaxFormerly Max 5x. Monthly billing only. | $100/month | 5x Pro usage per session and per week Fable 5.1 up to 50% of the weekly limit $100 API credit per month (not for Claude Code) | For heavy daily use |
| UltraFormerly Max 20x. | $200/month | 10x Pro usage per week No 5-hour limit for verified accounts Fable 5.1 up to 50% of the weekly limit $200 API credit per month (not for Claude Code) | For all-day users |
| Team Standard$20 when billed annually. 2 to 150 seats. | $25/seat/month | 1.25x Pro usage per session and member Claude Code and central billing Fable 5.1 only via usage credits | For small teams |
| Team Premium$100 when billed annually. | $125/seat/month | 6.25x Pro usage per session and member Fable 5.1 up to 50% of the weekly limit Can be mixed with Standard seats | For power users on a team |
| EnterpriseAnnual billing only. Usage is billed at API rates on top. From 20 seats, 50 via sales. | $20/seat/month | No plan or seat limits All usage billed at API rates | For companies |
Ultra used to be called Max 20x, and Max used to be Max 5x. Anthropic renamed the plans and kept the prices. If you still read "Max 5x" or "Max 20x" somewhere, these are the two tiers.
What each plan unlocks
The table shows what you get in the chat app, in Cowork and in Claude Code. The plan decides whether Opus and Claude Code are included. The usage multiple decides how often you can use them.
The free plan: what Free can do and where it ends
The free plan is not a time-limited trial. You get the Claude chat with Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5, plus web search, files and artifacts. You can also create up to 5 projects.
The limits:
Opus is not included, neither is Claude Code, and Cowork belongs to the paid plans according to Anthropic. Usage is capped by a rolling 5-hour window. The free plan has no weekly limit according to Anthropic. That only comes with the paid plans.
For occasional questions, drafts and research, Free is often enough. If you also want to code with Claude, the article on using Claude Code for free shows which routes exist without a subscription and where they end.
Usage limits: the 5-hour window, the weekly limit and multiples
The most important question about Claude pricing is not "What does it cost?" but "How much can I use for that?".
Anthropic does not publish a message count. There is a session limit that resets in a rolling 5-hour window and, on paid plans, a weekly limit across all models on top. How fast you reach it depends on message length, the conversation so far and the model.
Instead of absolute numbers there are multiples:
- Pro: at least 5x the per-session usage of Free.
- Max: 5x Pro usage, per session and per week.
- Ultra: 10x Pro usage per week. Automatically verified accounts have no 5-hour limit; phone verification at checkout does not count.
- Team Standard: 1.25x Pro usage per session and member.
- Team Premium: 6.25x Pro usage per session and member (5 times Standard).
Chat, Cowork and Claude Code all draw from the same pool. If you leave Claude Code running in the evening, you have less room in chat the next day.
Monthly or annual billing?
For Pro, annual billing pays off if you are sure you will use Claude for a year: $200 up front instead of $240, so you save $40.
Team also has an annual discount: Standard costs $20 instead of $25, Premium $100 instead of $125. Enterprise is annual only. Max and Ultra, on the other hand, are monthly only, which at least lets you move back to Pro after an intense project month.
Claude for teams and companies
The Team plan is built for 2 to 150 seats. Limits apply per member, so there is no shared allowance. Standard and Premium seats can be mixed. Claude Code is included in both seat types, while Fable 5.1 comes with a Premium seat only, up to half of the weekly limit. A pooled API credit of up to $500 a month comes on top and does not apply to Claude Code or the Claude apps.
Enterprise works differently: $20 per seat per month with annual billing, but only for platform access. All usage is billed at API rates on top, and there are no plan or seat limits. Self-serve needs at least 20 seats, via sales 50.
Claude API pricing per million tokens
The subscription and the API are separate worlds. You pay for the API per use, with no monthly fee. It makes sense mainly when you build Claude into your own applications. You do not need it for chat.
For Haiku 5.5 the low price applies as long as your prompt stays under 100,000 tokens. My article on Claude Code pricing covers cache prices and older models, and works out when the API beats the subscription.
Which plan is right for whom?
- You want to try Claude or use it occasionally: Free. Sonnet 5.5 covers questions, drafts and research.
- You use Claude regularly and want Opus 5.5 or Claude Code: Pro at $20. The plan most people do well with.
- You regularly hit the Pro limit: Max at $100 with 5x Pro usage.
- You work with Claude or Claude Code all day: Ultra at $200 with 10x weekly usage and, on verified accounts, no 5-hour limit.
- You are a team of 2 to 150 people: Team Standard, with Premium seats for power users.
- You need usage without limits and pay per use: Enterprise with API billing.
If you are unsure whether you need Claude or Claude Code, Claude vs. Claude Code helps you decide.
