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Claude Plan Picker
Free, Pro, Max 5x, Max 20x, or the API? Answer five quick questions about how you use Claude and get an honest recommendation with reasoning and current pricing.
Five questions
Our recommendation
Answer all five questions and your recommendation will appear here, with the reasoning and current pricing.
Current pricing (verified July 2026)
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Claude Free | $0 |
| Claude Pro | $20/mo, or $17/mo billed annually ($200 upfront) |
| Claude Max 5x | $100/mo |
| Claude Max 20x | $200/mo |
| Claude API | Pay per token |
Prices match Anthropic's published individual plans as of July 2026. Team and Enterprise seats are priced separately.
Read the full breakdowns
- Claude Pro review covers exactly what $20/mo buys and who should skip it.
- Claude Max 5x and 20x explained breaks down the usage multipliers and when they pay off.
- Is Claude free? details the real limits of the $0 tier.
- How to get a Claude API key walks through API setup and token pricing.
- Is Claude Code free? explains which plans include Claude Code.
How this works
Anthropic sells four individual tiers plus the API: Free at $0, Pro at $20 per month (or $17 per month billed annually as $200 upfront), Max 5x at $100 per month, and Max 20x at $200 per month. The Max multipliers refer to usage allowance relative to Pro, not different models. All paid plans include Claude Code, and the API is billed separately per input and output token.
The quiz weighs five signals. Programmatic use is the hard gate: if you are building an app that calls Claude, subscriptions will not cover that traffic and you need API keys regardless of what you pick for personal use. Budget is the second gate, since recommending a $200 plan to someone with a $0 budget helps nobody. After that, the picker looks at how fast you burn usage: Claude Code sessions consume allowance far quicker than chat, and constantly hitting limits on your current tier is the clearest sign you need a multiplier, not a workaround.
The result is a recommendation with the reasoning spelled out, plus honest notes about tradeoffs, like when your usage points at a plan your budget does not cover, or when the Free tier will frustrate you within a week. Pricing shown matches Anthropic's published rates and our detailed plan reviews.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Claude Max 5x and Max 20x?
Both give you the same models and features. The difference is usage allowance: Max 5x at $100 per month gives roughly 5 times Pro limits, and Max 20x at $200 per month gives roughly 20 times. Max 5x costs exactly the Pro rate per unit of usage, while 20x is for people who run Claude Code for hours daily or push very long sessions.
Is Claude Code included with a subscription?
Claude Code is included with Pro, Max 5x, and Max 20x, sharing the plan's usage allowance. It is not included in the Free tier. You can also run Claude Code against an API key with pay-per-token billing, which suits occasional use but gets expensive for daily coding compared to a flat subscription.
Does a Pro or Max subscription cover API access?
No. Subscriptions cover interactive use in the apps and Claude Code. If you are building software that calls Claude programmatically, you need a separate API account billed per token, no matter which subscription you hold. Many builders run both: the API for their product and a personal plan for their own chat and coding.
Is the annual Pro discount worth it?
Annual billing drops Pro from $20 to $17 per month, paid as $200 upfront, which saves $40 a year. It is worth it if you know you will use Claude all year. If you are still deciding between Pro and Max, stay monthly until your usage pattern settles.
How far does the Free plan actually go?
Free covers light daily chat on web, desktop, and mobile, but the daily cap arrives quickly during longer conversations, and usage resets on a schedule rather than on demand. It is a genuine way to evaluate Claude, but anyone using it for real work tends to hit the ceiling within days and moves to Pro at $20 per month.