Pro$17.00/mo annual · $20.00 monthly
~45 Sonnet-hours or ~11 Opus-hours per week.
Covers this usageSubscription includes Claude Code + 1-hour cache TTLClaude Code cost calculator
Claude Code: subscription or API billing?
Model your coding sessions — active days, sessions per day, context size, and cache hit rate — and see what the same usage costs in API tokens, plus which subscription tier covers it.
Free · no sign-upRuns in your browser.Plan data verified Aug 16, 2026
Agentic coding re-reads project context constantly; 70–90% hit rates are typical with a stable CLAUDE.md and file order. Cache reads bill at 10% of input.
Subscription tiers (annual billing)
Which plan fits this usage?
Max 5x$100/mo annual · $120 monthly
~140 Sonnet-hours or ~35 Opus-hours per week.
Covers this usageSubscription includes Claude Code + 1-hour cache TTLMax 20x$200/mo annual · $240 monthly
~560 Sonnet-hours or ~140 Opus-hours per week.
Covers this usageSubscription includes Claude Code + 1-hour cache TTLEstimates only. Reference points from Anthropic: ~$13 per active developer-day and $150–250 per developer-month on API billing; multi-agent teams consume ~7x tokens. Subscription sessions cache for 1 hour; API-key sessions default to 5 minutes. Verified Aug 16, 2026 — check current plans before purchasing.
Two billing modes
Subscriptions (Pro $17–20, Max 5x $100–120, Max 20x $200–240 per month) grant weekly model-hour allowances. API mode bills every token at list rates — Sonnet 5 at $2/$10, Opus 5 at $5/$25, Fable 5 at $10/$50 per million.
Caching decides the API bill
Agentic coding re-reads your project constantly. Cache reads cost one-tenth of fresh input, so a stable CLAUDE.md and consistent early files typically cut 60–80% of input cost. Subscription sessions cache for 1 hour; API-key sessions for 5 minutes by default.
Anchor to real numbers
Anthropic’s published reference points: ~$13 per active developer-day, $150–250 per developer-month, and multi-agent teams consuming ~7x solo-session tokens. Compare your projection before committing to a plan.
Plain-English answers
Claude Code cost questions
How much is Claude Code per month?
Included: Pro runs $17/month on annual billing ($20 monthly) with ~45 Sonnet-hours weekly; Max 5x is $100/$120 for ~140 Sonnet-hours; Max 20x is $200/$240 for ~560 Sonnet-hours or ~140 Opus-hours. On API billing, cost is usage-based — commonly $150–250 per developer-month at full-time intensity.
When is API billing cheaper than Max?
For bursty or light usage (a few focused sessions a week), metered tokens often cost less than a Max plan. Consistent daily agentic use almost always favors a subscription. Teams that need central billing, audit logs, or shared pools should use API mode regardless.
Does Claude Code on subscription have token limits?
Plans are metered in weekly model-hours (Sonnet-equivalent) rather than raw tokens, with rolling 5-hour and weekly windows. Heavy context, multi-agent teams, and Opus/Fable routing consume hours faster.