Is Claude Code free? No, and here is what each plan and the API cost
Is Claude Code free? No. Anthropic's setup page says it requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console account, or a supported cloud provider, and that the free Claude plan doesn't include it. Everything below is copied from Anthropic's own pages and dated.
Is Claude Code free
- Checked
- 28 October 2026
- Free Claude plan
- Claude Code not included
- Entry plan
- Pro, $17 a month billed annually
- API route
- Pay per token through Console
- Enterprise average
- About $13 per developer per day
The short answer
No. Anthropic's setup page says Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console account and that the free Claude plan doesn't include it. The entry plan is Pro at $17 a month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly. The alternative is pay-per-token API billing, which Anthropic's costs page puts near $13 per developer per active day across enterprises.
Claude Code on each plan and route
Anthropic's plan comparison lists Claude Code as "No" on the Free plan and "Yes" on Pro, Max 5x and Max 20x, and the Team and Enterprise tabs include it too. The rows below are the prices on the page on 28 October 2026.
| Route | Price | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Free | $0 | Not included. |
| Claude Pro | $17 a month billed annually ($200 up front), or $20 billed monthly | Included, with a five-hour session limit and a weekly limit. |
| Claude Max 5x | $100 a month | Included, five times Pro's usage. |
| Claude Max 20x | $200 a month | Included, twenty times Pro's usage. |
| Claude Team, standard seat | $20 per seat a month billed annually, or $25 billed monthly | Included, for teams of 2 to 150. |
| Claude Team, premium seat | $100 per seat a month billed annually, or $125 billed monthly | Included, five times a standard seat's usage. |
| Claude Enterprise | $20 per seat a month billed annually, 20 seat minimum, plus usage at API rates | Included. |
| Claude Console (API) | Pay per token | Supported. Anthropic's costs page puts the enterprise average near $13 per developer per active day. |
| Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Agent Platform, Microsoft Foundry | Billed by the cloud provider | Supported through the provider's own account. |
The limits that decide whether Pro is enough
A plan's price is the start. Anthropic's help article on Pro and Max describes the limits you will actually meet.
Session limit. Pro and Max both have a five-hour session limit. If you hit it halfway through a response, Claude Code may keep working briefly to finish the step in progress, and that small allowance counts toward your weekly limit.
Weekly limit. Both plans have one, and Max has a separate weekly limit for the Fable models. The limits are shared across Claude and Claude Code, so a long chat session spends the same allowance as a coding session.
Usage credits. You can turn on usage credits to keep going on Pro or Max after you reach a limit. They bill at standard API rates and appear as a separate charge from the subscription.
Max API credits. Max plans include monthly API credits, $100 on Max 5x and $200 on Max 20x. Anthropic says they cannot be used in Claude Code or the Claude apps, usage credits included.
The API key trap. If an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable is set, Claude Code authenticates with that key instead of your plan, and every request is billed to the API at standard rates. Run /status in a session to see which path you're on.
When you hit a limit, in Anthropic's order
- Wait until the limit resets, then check your remaining allowance with the
/statuscommand. - Turn on usage credits, which keep a Pro or Max plan working after a session or weekly limit.
- Move up a tier if you hit limits consistently, Pro to Max 5x first, then Max 20x.
- Switch to a Console account and buy API credits for an intensive coding sprint, billed per token.
What the API route costs
On the API, Claude Code charges by token. Anthropic's API prices for the four current models are below, per million tokens.
| Model | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $10 | $50 |
| Opus 5.5 | $4 | $20 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $2 | $10 |
| Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 | $0.50 |
Haiku's rate is for prompts up to 100K tokens, and it rises above that. Per-token prices are only the input to a bill. Anthropic's costs page says that across enterprise deployments the average is around $13 per developer per active day and $150 to $250 per developer per month, with costs under $30 per active day for 90% of users. It recommends a small pilot to set your own baseline, and the /usage command shows the session total, which Claude Code computes locally from token counts at list price.
Four ways to spend less, from Anthropic's costs page
- Clear between tasks. Run
/clearwhen you switch to unrelated work, because stale context costs tokens on every message that follows. - Pick the model for the job. Anthropic says Sonnet handles most coding tasks and costs less than Opus, so switch with
/modeland keep Opus for architecture or multi-step reasoning. - Trim what loads. Run
/contextto see what takes space, and turn off MCP servers you aren't using from/mcp. - Cap spend where it lives. On Team and Enterprise, turn on usage credits and set limits for the organization, a group or a member. On the Console, set a workspace spend limit.
Where the "free Claude Code" results lead
Search results for this question are mostly not about Anthropic's product.
A GitHub repository called free-claude-code advertises Claude Code and other agents "for free", and its README walks you through configuring providers such as NVIDIA NIM, LM Studio, llama.cpp and Ollama. Those providers aren't Anthropic's, so the client ends up talking to other models. It isn't Anthropic's offer, and we haven't run it.
Anyone who routes your prompts and code through a third party has your prompts and code. Read what a proxy keeps before you send a repository through it. If your real goal is to learn Claude Code without paying, Anthropic runs free self-paced courses at Claude Academy, including Claude Code 101.
A leaked key bills like your own
A key is a spending limit. An API key in an environment file works for anyone who holds the file. When Railway disclosed in October that an attacker had decrypted some customers' environment variables, it published guidance on checking for unexpected Anthropic usage, and our brief on the incident lists what to rotate first.
Cap the account that owns it. Set a spend limit on the Console account or workspace behind the key. On Team and Enterprise plans, admins can set limits for the organization, a group or a member, as Anthropic's costs page describes. Our Claude Code governance guide covers where those limits sit in a rollout.
What we tested
We ran these commands on 28 October 2026 with Claude Code 2.1.274 on a Mac, in a throwaway folder with an empty home directory, so the profile was a fresh install with no account. We didn't sign in or send a prompt, because that spends plan usage or API money.
% claude --version
2.1.274 (Claude Code)
% claude auth status | grep -E '"(loggedIn|authMethod|apiProvider)"'
"loggedIn": false,
"authMethod": "none",
"apiProvider": "firstParty",% claude auth login --help
Usage: claude auth login [options]
Sign in to your Anthropic account
Options:
--claudeai Use Claude subscription (default)
--console Use Anthropic Console (API usage billing) instead of Claude
subscription
--email <email> Pre-populate email address on the login page
-h, --help Display help for command
--sso Force SSO login flow% claude --help | grep -E -A1 -- "^ --max-budget-usd"
--max-budget-usd <amount> Maximum dollar amount to spend on API
calls (only works with --print)A fresh install is not logged in, and nothing runs until it is. The login command has two paths: your Claude subscription, which is the default, or the Anthropic Console, which bills API usage. The --max-budget-usd flag caps spend on a headless run, and the help text says it only works with --print.
Keep going in the Claude Code guides
- Choosing between tools? Claude Code vs Cursor sets both vendors' plans side by side.
- Letting it run with fewer prompts? Claude Code permissions explains modes and rules, and the Claude Code sandbox explains the boundary around shell commands.
- Worried about what it can reach? Is Claude Code safe? covers the product's own security features, and our settings files study shows what 12,796 public settings files allow.
For a team that wants the bill, the permissions and the sandbox set once and enforced, the work sits under our production engineering, AI agent development and custom AI development practice, and a Claude Code consultant is the person who leaves it behind in your repository.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Code free?
No. Anthropic's setup page says Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console account, or a supported cloud provider, and that the free Claude plan doesn't include it. You can learn it for free through Claude Academy's courses, but running it costs plan usage or API money.
How much does Claude Code cost per month?
On a plan, $17 a month for Pro billed annually or $20 billed monthly, $100 for Max 5x and $200 for Max 20x. Teams pay $20 or $100 per seat billed annually. On the API you pay per token, and Anthropic's costs page puts the enterprise average at $150 to $250 per developer per month.
Is Claude Pro enough for Claude Code?
It depends on how much you run. Pro includes Claude Code with a five-hour session limit and a weekly limit shared with Claude chat. Anthropic suggests Max 5x if you consistently hit limits, usage credits to keep going, or a Console account for an intensive sprint.
What's the difference between Max 5x and Max 20x?
Max 5x costs $100 a month and gives five times Pro's usage. Max 20x costs $200 and gives twenty times. Both add priority access at high traffic times and monthly API credits, $100 and $200, which cannot be used in Claude Code.
Can I use Claude Code with an API key instead of a plan?
Yes, through a Console account billed per token. If an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable is set, Claude Code uses it instead of your subscription. For a headless run, the --max-budget-usd flag caps spend, and it only works with --print.
Sources, checked 2026-10-28
12 sources
- Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console account, or a supported cloud provider, and the free claude.ai plan does not include Claude Code access.Source: code.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Anthropic lists Claude Pro at $17 a month billed annually or $20 monthly, Max from $100, Team standard seats at $20 and premium seats at $100 billed annually ($25 and $125 monthly), Enterprise at $20 per seat a month with a 20 seat minimum plus usage at API rates, and Claude Code as No on Free and Yes on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.Source: claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Anthropic lists API prices per million tokens of $10 input and $50 output for Fable 5.1, $4 and $20 for Opus 5.5, $2 and $10 for Sonnet 5.5, and $0.10 and $0.50 for Haiku 5.5 on prompts up to 100K tokens.Source: claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Max 5x costs $100 per month and Max 20x costs $200 per month, with five and twenty times the Pro plan's per-session usage allowance.Source: support.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Pro and Max have a five-hour session limit and a weekly limit shared across Claude and Claude Code, Max has a separate weekly limit for Fable, and usage credits can continue use after a limit.Source: support.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Monthly API credits included with Max plans cannot be used in Claude Code or the Claude apps.Source: support.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Usage credits let a Pro, Max 5x or Max 20x plan keep working after a limit by switching to pay-as-you-go pricing at standard API rates, charged separately from the subscription.Source: support.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Claude Code gives an API key set in an environment variable priority over a logged-in subscription and bills API pay-as-you-go rates, and /status shows which authentication method is active.Source: support.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Across enterprise deployments Claude Code averages around $13 per developer per active day and $150 to $250 per developer per month, under $30 per active day for 90% of users, and /usage shows a session total computed locally at list price.Source: code.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Anthropic advises /clear between unrelated tasks, Sonnet for most coding tasks with Opus reserved for complex work, /context and /mcp to trim what loads, and spend limits at organization, group or member level on Team and Enterprise or by workspace on the Console.Source: code.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- Claude Academy runs free self-paced courses including Claude Code 101.Source: code.claude.com, checked 2026-10-28.
- A GitHub repository named free-claude-code lists NVIDIA NIM, LM Studio, llama.cpp and Ollama among the providers its README configures.Source: github.com, checked 2026-10-28.
Digiton Dynamics OÜ is registered in Tallinn, Estonia, and delivers from Lisbon.
Update log
- Published. Plan and API prices copied from Anthropic's pricing page, setup page and costs page, commands run on Claude Code 2.1.274.
Each source above was opened on the date beside it. How facts get chosen and checked is written down in the editorial policy.
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