How much does Claude Code cost per month? Official plans and limits
As of 2026-11-05, Claude Code is not sold on its own: Anthropic's pricing page says it is included in every paid plan — Pro at $20 billed monthly ($17 a month on annual billing), Max at $100 a month, Ultra at $200 a month (official prices). A metered API key has no monthly fee at all; what you pay depends on your usage.
Updated 2026-11-05
Prices change: on QCode, Claude, GPT and Chinese models are billed per token — live rates on /models.
- Billed per token — live rates on /models
- Pay by card (Visa / Mastercard), Apple Pay, Google Pay or crypto
- Self-service: top up and activate instantly
Four takeaways
Official monthly prices
From claude.com/pricing and the Help Center, captured 2026-11-05: Pro is $20 billed monthly ($200 up front on annual billing, which works out to $17 a month), Max is $100 a month, Ultra is $200 a month. Max gives 5x Pro usage, Ultra gives 10x weekly usage with no 5-hour limit for verified accounts. Max and Ultra are monthly only; prices exclude tax and can change at Anthropic's discretion.
Do you need to buy Claude Code on its own?
No. The pricing page says Claude Code is included in all paid plans, and your terminal work and chats draw from one pool of usage. Pro, Max and Ultra all include it.
Team price per seat
Team is for 2 to 150 people: a Standard seat is $20 a month on annual billing ($25 monthly), a Premium seat is $100 ($125 monthly) with 5x the usage of a Standard seat. The Help Center says Claude Code is included with every Team seat.
How a metered API key adds up
Monthly cost on a metered API key = input tokens × input rate + output tokens × output rate + cache-write and cache-read tokens × their own rates. Anthropic's docs say Claude Code is charged by API token consumption and, with prompt caching, re-reads the conversation history at the cached token rate. QCode's per-model rates, cache writes and reads included, are on /models and are not plugged in here.
What a month really costs
As of 2026-11-05, running Claude Code on a subscription costs a flat monthly price: Pro $20 billed monthly, Max $100, Ultra $200, and Team seats $20 to $125 (official prices); a metered API key has no monthly fee and you pay for what you use. A subscription shares one pool of usage with chat and is metered by a 5-hour window and a weekly limit; Anthropic says there is no fixed message count, because usage depends on conversation length, model and features. The two can coexist, but once ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set in the environment, Claude Code uses it and bills API pay-as-you-go rates instead of your plan's usage.
What the official pages say
The FAQ on claude.com/pricing (captured 2026-11-05) has a question on whether Claude Code is in your plan, and adds that for heavy coding sessions you can switch to pay-as-you-go API credits through a Console account. The Help Center pages on the Max and Ultra plans both note that the price is for web subscriptions only and that mobile pricing may vary by app platform. Anthropic's Claude Code cost documentation says it is charged by API token consumption, and that Pro, Max and Ultra subscribers have usage included in their subscription, so the session cost figure is not relevant for billing.
Timeline
The Help Center article on managing API key environment variables in Claude Code was updated: when an API key is set as an environment variable, usage is billed at API pay-as-you-go rates even if you are logged in with a subscription.
The Help Center pages on using Claude Code with Pro, Max or Ultra, with Team, and on monthly API credits were updated the same day; the Team page says Claude Code is included with every Team seat.
The Help Center's paid plan billing FAQ was updated: Pro, Max and Ultra subscriptions bought on the web accept only credit or debit cards; for subscriptions through the iOS or Android app, payment options are set by the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Confirmed vs common misconceptions
Confirmed (verifiable word for word)
Official: Ultra is the renamed Max 20x, at no price change; Pro can be billed monthly or annually, Max and Ultra monthly only; the weekly limit resets at a fixed time each week assigned to the account; after hitting a limit you can wait for the reset, move up a plan, turn on usage credits or use API credits on a Console account, and usage credits are charged at standard API rates apart from the subscription, as additional charges on your bill.
Common misconceptions
First, "Claude Code adds a monthly fee on top of the plan": Anthropic says it is included in all paid plans; extra spending beyond the subscription comes from usage credits you turn on yourself after a limit, or from a metered API key used alongside it. Second, "the monthly API credits that come with a plan can run Claude Code": Anthropic says those credits do not cover interactive Claude Code. Third, "there is one official monthly number": Anthropic publishes plan prices and an enterprise average, and an individual's real monthly cost varies by person.
Subscription or metered key
Official subscription (Pro / Max / Ultra / Team)
Better for people who use Claude Code every day, want a fixed budget and also use claude.ai account features: the fee is fixed, and after a limit you can wait, move up a plan or turn on usage credits. QCode's docs state that with a third-party API key the hosted services on the Anthropic account side are not available.
Metered API key
Better for bursty use, for people who do not want a monthly fee and mostly code in the terminal: no monthly fee, you pay for what you use. There is no ready answer to which costs less: neither Anthropic nor QCode publishes a comparison figure you can apply directly, so work it out from your own monthly usage and compare with the matching official monthly price.
Work out your own monthly cost
① Check usage on the subscription: Anthropic says you can see where you stand anytime in Settings > Usage, and how often you hit a limit tells you whether to stay on Pro or move to Max or Ultra. ② Run on an API key for a while: in Claude Code, the Session block of /usage shows API token usage per model as input, output, cache read and cache write (Anthropic says the block is intended for API users); total up each of them for a month. ③ Apply the formula: multiply each by its rate, add them up, then compare with the official monthly price. When switching, remember that ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the environment overrides a subscription login; run /status to see which one is active.
Use it metered on QCode
Three steps: register and create a key starting with cr_ in the console, top up on the recharge page, then set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://api.qcode.cc/api and put the key in ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. Billing is per token, with per-model rates on /models; as of 2026-11-05 /models lists claude-sonnet-5-5, claude-opus-5-5 and claude-haiku-5-5. Not ready for a monthly plan? Pay-as-you-go Packs start at $4 for a one-time quota you use within 7 days; if you already have a Personal Plan, add a booster pack when you need more quota.
FAQ
Is Claude Pro enough for Claude Code?
It depends on your usage: Anthropic says there is no fixed message count, because usage depends on conversation length, model and features, and Pro is metered by a 5-hour session limit and a weekly limit. If you keep hitting limits on larger repositories, one of Anthropic's suggestions is to move up to Max; you can also turn on usage credits, use API credits on a Console account, or wait for the reset.
How does the weekly limit work in Claude Code?
The weekly limit applies across all models and resets at a fixed time each week assigned to your account, regardless of when you start using Claude or when your subscription begins; some plans also have a weekly limit of their own for Fable. Anthropic says paid plans also have a 5-hour session limit (verified Ultra accounts do not), and that web, desktop and Claude Code share one pool. Anthropic may adjust limits to manage capacity.
Can the API credits that come with a plan run Claude Code?
No. The monthly API credits ($100 on Max, $200 on Ultra) are for building apps on the Claude Platform; Anthropic says they do not cover interactive Claude Code or extra usage after you hit a limit, and Pro has no such credit. They also cannot be handed to a third-party gateway such as QCode: a QCode key is billed on its own per token, and the two are never converted into each other.
How is Claude Code priced for a team?
Team is for 2 to 150 people: a Standard seat is $20 a month on annual billing ($25 monthly) and a Premium seat is $100 ($125 monthly), official prices excluding tax. Anthropic says Claude Code is included with every Team seat, and Premium seats get more usage. The pooled monthly API credits on Team are capped at $500 and do not cover Claude Code either. Seat rules and region limits are on the Team plan page on this site.
How do I pay for Claude Code from China or Russia?
Anthropic's Help Center says that for subscriptions bought on the web it only accepts credit or debit cards. QCode's top-up page says: Alipay, WeChat Pay, cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay usually arrive within a minute; SBP and Russian cards can take a few minutes; crypto is checked by hand and credited within one day.
How much does Claude Code cost per month without a subscription, on an API key?
There is no single figure, only a formula: monthly cost = the month's input, output, cache-write and cache-read tokens, each multiplied by its rate and added up; QCode's per-model rates are on /models. Anthropic's cost documentation gives an enterprise reference: about $13 per developer per active day and $150-250 per developer per month, with 90% of users below $30 per active day, and stresses that costs vary widely with model, codebase size and usage patterns. That is an official enterprise average, not QCode's price and not your bill.
Sources
Anthropic: claude.com/pricing; the Help Center pages on the Max plan, the Ultra plan, using Claude Code (Pro/Max/Ultra and Team/Enterprise), usage and length limits, managing usage credits, monthly API credits, API key environment variables and paid plan billing FAQs; and the Claude Code cost documentation, all captured 2026-11-05. qcode.cc: /models, /pricing, /pay-as-you-go and /recharge, plus the docs.qcode.cc pages on subscriptions vs API keys, choosing a plan, payment methods, feature availability and the Claude Code tutorial, captured the same day.
Estimate your monthly usage first
Model availability follows /models; payment methods and arrival times are on the top-up page and in the FAQ.
Related reading
Claude Code Pay-as-you-go Packs: no subscription, 7 days
One-time quota, and every pack you buy lands on the same key. Validity, renewals and expiry rules are on the QCode packs page in the docs.
Claude Max Alternative: Three Paths for 2026
Three ways to go when the monthly price is too high or the quota runs short: a lower plan, a metered API key, or mixing the two, with concurrency and payments.
Claude Team Plan 2026: Pricing, Seats, Claude Code
Team Standard and Premium seat prices, the size range, and where Claude Code and the monthly API credits stop.
Crypto payment guide
Nine coins, 56 networks, zero platform fee for AI coding API credits.
Official monthly prices, limits and API credit rules were checked on 2026-11-05 against the Anthropic pages captured that day; prices exclude tax and can change at Anthropic's discretion. QCode details were checked against qcode.cc and docs.qcode.cc captured the same day. Official pages prevail, model availability follows /models, and official changes are not notified individually.