Guide
Claude Code pricing in 2026: every plan, the API and real costs
Claude Code has no price of its own: it comes with Claude plans or bills per token. Every option, what each really costs, and how to choose.
Claude Code has no separate price: it comes with Claude's paid plans or bills per token through Anthropic's API. Claude Pro costs $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually; Max costs $100 for five times Pro's usage or $200 for twenty times; Team seats cost $20 to $25 (standard) or $100 to $125 (premium); and Enterprise costs $20 a seat plus all usage at API rates. The free plan doesn't include Claude Code. Through the API, Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output, and Opus 5.5 $4 and $20; Anthropic puts the average Enterprise developer at about $13 per active day.
Key takeaways
- Individuals: Pro at $20 ($17 annually), Max 5x at $100, Max 20x at $200. Max is billed monthly only.
- Teams: Team seats from $20 to $125, for 2 to 150 people. Enterprise is $20 a seat plus every token at API rates, from 20 seats.
- Pay as you go: a Console API key or Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry, billed per token.
- Beyond your limits: usage credits at API rates, on any paid plan.
- Discounts: none for individual students. Anthropic sells an Education plan to universities and gives US K-12 teachers a free year.
| Option | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0 | No Claude Code | Chat only |
| Pro | $20 a month ($17 annually) | Claude Code with the baseline allowance | Trying it, regular use |
| Max 5x | $100 a month | 5 times Pro's per-session allowance | Daily use |
| Max 20x | $200 a month | 20 times Pro's per-session allowance | All-day use |
| Team | $20 to $125 a seat | 1.25 or 6.25 times Pro per member, admin tools | Teams of 2 to 150 |
| Enterprise | $20 a seat plus usage | Usage at API rates, security controls | Large organizations |
| API (Console) | Per token | Sonnet 5.5 $2/$10, Opus 5.5 $4/$20 per million | Light or automated use |
How do Claude plans pay for Claude Code?
Each plan includes an allowance that resets every five hours plus a weekly limit, shared between chat and Claude Code (Claude Code usage limits):
- Pro: the baseline allowance.
- Max 5x and 20x: five or twenty times Pro's per-session allowance, priority access at busy times, and Fable models within the weekly limit (Claude Max vs Pro).
- Team: standard seats get 1.25 times Pro's per-session allowance, premium seats 6.25 times, each member separately.
- Enterprise: no included allowance; every token is billed at API rates (Claude Team vs Enterprise).
Past the limits, usage credits keep you going at API rates. Fast mode on Opus 5.5 runs only on credits, at $8 and $40 per million tokens.
How much does Claude Code cost through the API?
With a Claude Console account, Claude Code bills per token at Anthropic's standard rates (Anthropic):
- Sonnet 5.5: $2 input, $10 output per million tokens.
- Opus 5.5: $4 and $20, 20% less than Opus 5.
- Haiku 5.5: $0.10 and $0.50 for prompts up to 100K tokens, five times that above. It replaced Haiku 4.5 ($1 and $5) on October 7, 2026.
- Fable 5.1: $10 and $50.
Claude Code caches prompts automatically, and cache reads cost a fraction of input: $0.20 per million on Opus 5.5 and, since October 7, $0.10 on Sonnet 5.5. Console credits are prepaid in US dollars and expire after a year. The first time someone signs in through the Console, Claude Code creates a workspace with a key for each person, and it's the only workspace with per-user monthly spend limits (Anthropic). If ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set, Claude Code uses it instead of your plan.
Cloud providers: on Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud, pricing is set by the provider and billed to your cloud account; Microsoft Foundry bills at Anthropic's rates through the Azure Marketplace. Deployments that don't pin a model default to Opus.
Plan or API: which is cheaper?
Anthropic says Claude Code averages about $13 per developer per active day on Enterprise, or $150 to $250 a month (Anthropic). At that rate, pay-per-token passes Pro's $20 in about two active days a month and Max 5x's $100 in about eight. Light or occasional users can do well on the API; anyone using Claude Code most days pays less on a plan. In Claude Code, /usage shows what a session would cost at list prices.
Is there a student or regional discount?
- Students: no individual discount; Anthropic says it offers no standard discounts on paid plans. Universities can buy the Education plan, which includes Claude Code, through Anthropic's sales team.
- Teachers: verified US K-12 teachers get Claude, including Claude Code, free for a year if they sign up by June 30, 2027 (Anthropic).
- Regions: Pro is $20 a month in the US, and Anthropic charges in local currency where supported; it doesn't publish a list of local prices. Prices on its US pricing page exclude tax.
What changed in 2026?
- January 28: Team seats were cut to $20 to $25 standard and $100 to $125 premium, with Claude Code included in every seat.
- Early 2026: Enterprise moved to a $20 seat plus all usage at API rates.
- September 22: Opus 5.5 launched at $4 and $20, 20% below Opus 5, and five-hour limits went up (Anthropic).
- September 28: Sonnet 5.5 stayed at $2 and $10.
Which option should you choose?
- Trying it, or occasional use: Pro at $20, or the API.
- Most days: Pro, then Max 5x if you hit limits often.
- All day on large codebases: Max 20x.
- A small team: Team, with premium seats for heavy users.
- Security and compliance needs, or more than 150 people: Enterprise.
Paying for a team's AI work
Claude plans are per person, and Anthropic's terms don't allow sharing an account. Poly (usepoly.co) is a shared room where a team works with one coding agent, Claude Code or Codex: everyone sees each step and any member can approve a change. Free to start; Pro is $20 and Max $50 a month for each person who runs the AI. Pricing
Common questions
How much does Claude Code cost?
It comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month ($17 billed annually), Max at $100 or $200, Team seats from $20 to $125, or Enterprise at $20 a seat plus usage. You can also pay per token with an API key.
Is Claude Code included in Claude Pro?
Yes. Pro includes Claude Code, sharing its five-hour and weekly usage limits with chat. The free plan does not include it.
Is it cheaper to use Claude Code with an API key?
For light use, often. Anthropic puts average Enterprise usage at about $13 per developer per active day, so a plan costs less once you use Claude Code more than a few days a month.
Is there a student discount for Claude Code?
No individual student discount. Universities can buy Anthropic's Education plan, and US K-12 teachers can get a free year of Claude, including Claude Code.
What does Claude Code cost on Enterprise?
$20 a seat a month, billed annually, plus all usage at API rates. Anthropic says the average is about $150 to $250 per developer a month.