Do With Claude
Claude's pricing page lists six plans, a pile of feature names, and phrases like "5x more usage per 5-hour session." And if all you want to know is which one to pay for, or whether to pay at all, that's a lot to untangle.
So here's every Claude plan side by side, in plain English: what each one costs, what it actually adds, and who it's really for. I'm leaving out the developer (API) pricing. That's a separate product for people building software.
Prices and features checked on Anthropic's pricing page on September 29, 2026. Prices are in US dollars and don't include tax. Anthropic changes its plans fairly often, so give claude.com/pricing a quick look before you buy.
Claude plans at a glance
| Plan | Price | How much you can use | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | The baseline | Trying Claude, everyday questions |
| Pro | $20/month, or $200/year (about $17/month) | At least 5x Free | Using Claude most days |
| Max 5x | $100/month | 5x Pro | Regularly hitting Pro's limit |
| Max 20x | $200/month | 20x Pro | Using Claude all day, every day |
| Team | $25 per person/month ($20 billed yearly); Premium seats $125 ($100 yearly) | More than Pro; Premium seats get 5x a Standard seat | Offices of 2 to 150 people |
| Enterprise | $20 per person/month billed yearly, plus usage | Pay for what you use | Large organizations with an IT department |
First, how Claude usage limits work
This is the part that trips people up, so it's worth a minute. Every plan has a limit on how much you can use Claude. But Claude doesn't count your messages one by one. It counts how much work each request takes. A quick question uses a little. A 40-page document, or a long back-and-forth, uses a lot more.
Your allowance resets every 5 hours. That's what the pricing page means by a "session." Max plans also have a weekly limit on top of that.
That's why the plans are described in multiples. Pro gives you at least 5x the Free plan per session. Max gives you 5x or 20x what Pro gets. Same Claude, just more of it.
Claude Free: what you get for $0
Honestly? More than most people expect. The Free plan includes:
- Chatting with Claude on the web, in the desktop app, and on your phone
- Web search, so answers can use current information
- Creating files and running code, which is how Claude builds things like a spreadsheet for you (you don't need to know any code)
- Memory, so Claude can remember things across conversations
- Connecting apps and tools you already use
- Artifacts: documents, charts and simple tools Claude builds in a panel next to the chat
- Uploading files like PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets and photos
On Free you get two of Anthropic's models, Sonnet and Haiku. Think of models as different versions of Claude. Some are faster, some are more powerful.
The catch is the limit. Free is great for everyday questions. But if you work with long documents, or you lean on Claude for a big part of your day, you'll run into it.
Claude Pro: $20 a month
Pro costs $20 a month, or $200 if you pay for the year up front, which works out to about $17 a month. You get everything in Free, plus:
- More usage: at least 5x the Free plan per session
- Projects: a workspace where you keep files and instructions, so you're not re-explaining yourself in every new chat
- More models, including Opus, Anthropic's more powerful model for harder work
- Handing off and scheduling tasks, so Claude can work on something while you do something else
- Claude Design, Slides and Docs for making designs, slide decks and documents
- Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365, so you can use Claude inside your browser and your Office apps
- Claude Code and Claude Science, specialist tools you can safely ignore if you don't write software or do research
Fable, Anthropic's top model, isn't included on Free. On Pro, you reach it through usage credits rather than your regular allowance.
Who it's for: most people who use Claude most days. If you're reading a site like this one, Pro is probably your plan.
Claude Pro vs Max: when is $100 worth it?
Max comes in two sizes, and both are billed monthly only:
- Max 5x for $100 a month gives you 5x Pro's usage per session
- Max 20x for $200 a month gives you 20x Pro's usage per session
On top of the extra usage, Max adds longer answers and files (higher output limits), early access to new Claude features, and priority access when Claude is busy. You can also spend up to half of your weekly limit on Fable.
Here's the thing, though. Max doesn't make Claude smarter. It makes it last longer. If you're not hitting Pro's limit at least a few times a week, Max is money you don't need to spend.
Claude Team and Enterprise plans
If you want Claude for work, and especially if work is paying, these are the plans to know.
Team is for groups of 2 to 150 people. There are two kinds of seats, and you can mix them:
- Standard seat: $25 per person a month, or $20 billed yearly. Gets more usage than Pro.
- Premium seat: $125 per person a month, or $100 billed yearly. Gets 5x the usage of a Standard seat.
Team adds the things an office needs: one bill, admin controls, single sign-on (logging in with your work account), and searching across your company's tools. And one detail that matters a lot for work: by default, your team's content isn't used to train Claude's models.
Enterprise is priced differently: $20 per person a month, billed yearly, plus a charge for how much you actually use. It adds what larger companies ask for, like spending limits, detailed permissions, audit logs, custom data retention, and a HIPAA-ready option for healthcare.
Is there a Claude student plan?
Not for individuals. The pricing page doesn't list a student discount you can sign up for yourself. What it does list is an Education plan that a whole school or university buys, which gives its students and staff discounted access. So if you're a student, check whether your school already has it.
Which Claude plan should you get?
- Just curious, or a few questions a week? Free.
- Using it most days, or want Projects and Opus? Pro.
- Hitting Pro's limit several times a week? Max 5x. All day, every day? Max 20x.
- Your office wants it, for 2 or more people? Team.
- A big company with an IT department? Enterprise.
And if you're not sure, start on Free. Use it for a week on real tasks from your own day. The first time the limit actually gets in your way, move up to Pro. Most people never need more than that.
The takeaway
The Claude plans mostly differ in how much you can use Claude, not in how smart it is. Free is a real, useful plan. Pro is where most regular users land. Everything above that is for people who use Claude all day, or for offices buying it for a team. Pay for the plan that matches how you actually use it, not the one with the longest feature list.
Want to see what you can actually do on these plans? Over on YouTube at @DoWithClaude, I show one simple task at a time, start to finish. Most of them work just fine on the Free plan.
