What Claude actually costs.
Claude has a free tier, a $20 Pro plan, two pricier Max tiers, and a per-token API with three model sizes. Here's what each costs and what a real prompt runs you — honest June 2026 numbers.
01 The plans
| Plan | Price | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Trying Claude, light daily use |
| Pro | $20/mo | Most users — solid limits, Projects, Artifacts |
| Max (5×) | $100/mo | Heavy users wanting 5× the usage |
| Max (20×) | $200/mo | Power users living in Claude all day |
In the app, you're not billed per word — you get a usage allowance measured in messages, and the Max tiers simply raise that ceiling. Most people are well served by Pro.
02 Pay-per-use (the API)
Claude's API charges per token (~¾ of a word), and you pick a model size by how hard the job is. Current rates, per million tokens (input / output):
| Model | Input / Output (per 1M) | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku | $1 / $5 | Fast, cheap, high-volume tasks |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $3 / $15 | The everyday workhorse |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | $5 / $25 | Hardest reasoning & writing |
Picking the right size is the whole cost game: Opus is 5× Haiku. Use the small model for routine work and save Opus for jobs that truly need it.
03 What a prompt actually costs
- Quick question (~250 in / 350 out): a fraction of a cent on any model.
- Summarize a 2-page doc (~800 in / 1,200 out): about $0.02 on Sonnet; ~$0.007 on Haiku.
- Deep analysis on Opus (~2,500 in / 3,500 out): roughly $0.10 — the premium model on a long job is where cost shows up.
Claude's writing and reasoning quality is its draw — and for normal use, prompts are pennies. The cost lever is model choice: don't run everything on Opus. For most daily work, Pro ($20) flat beats per-token, and Sonnet is the right default if you're on the API.
04 Which is right for you?
- Trying it / light use: Free tier.
- Daily driver: Pro ($20).
- All-day heavy use: Max ($100 or $200) — only if you keep hitting limits.
- Builder: API — default to Sonnet, drop to Haiku for volume, reach for Opus sparingly.
Compare Claude against every other tool — subscription vs pay-per-use — with your real numbers.
Open the AI Cost Calculator →Quick gut-check
If you're on the API, look at how often you reach for Opus. Most jobs run fine on Sonnet at a fifth the price. Reserving Opus for the genuinely hard ones can cut your bill dramatically without hurting output.
Run the numbers →What you can do now
- Know the plans: Free, Pro ($20), Max ($100 / $200)
- Read the API rates by model: Haiku $1/$5, Sonnet $3/$15, Opus $5/$25
- Control cost with model choice — Sonnet by default, Opus sparingly
- Pick the plan that matches your real usage