How much does Claude Code cost after the subscription change?

Claude Code now costs either API pay-per-token ($15 input / $75 output per million tokens for Opus 4.6), discounted usage bundles from Anthropic, or approximately $100-200/month for heavy professional use.

Can I still use Claude Code for free?

Claude Code itself is free to install, but you need to pay for API usage. There's no free tier for Claude Code API calls. However, you can use Claude Code with free local models via Ollama.

What's the cheapest way to use Claude Code?

Use Claude Sonnet 4.6 instead of Opus ($3/$15 per million tokens — 5x cheaper). Or use Ollama with local models for free. For moderate use, Anthropic's discounted usage bundles may offer the best value.

Quick Answer

Claude Code Pricing After Subscription Change (2026)

Published: April 4, 2026

Claude Code Pricing After Subscription Change

With Anthropic cutting third-party tool access from Claude subscriptions (effective April 4, 2026), here’s how Claude Code pricing works now.

Last verified: April 4, 2026

Current Pricing Options

Option 1: Claude API (Pay-Per-Token)

Model	Input	Output	Best For
Claude Opus 4.6	$15/M tokens	$75/M tokens	Complex coding, architecture
Claude Sonnet 4.6	$3/M tokens	$15/M tokens	Daily coding (best value)
Claude Haiku	$0.25/M tokens	$1.25/M tokens	Simple completions

Typical monthly costs:

Light use (a few sessions/day): $20-50/month
Moderate use (regular coding): $50-100/month
Heavy use (full-time agentic): $100-200+/month

Option 2: Anthropic Usage Bundles

Anthropic now offers discounted usage bundles specifically for third-party tool users. Pricing details vary — check anthropic.com for current bundles.

Option 3: Local Models (Free)

# Use Ollama with Claude Code
ollama run qwen3.5:35b-a3b-coding-nvfp4
# Configure Claude Code to use local endpoint

Free but less capable than Claude Opus 4.6. Ollama 0.19 with MLX makes this viable for many tasks.

Cost Optimization Tips

Use Sonnet for most tasks — 5x cheaper than Opus, still very capable
Route to Haiku for simple completions — 60x cheaper than Opus
Use local models for exploration — Save API calls for important work
Leverage caching — Claude Code’s prompt caching reduces repeated context costs
Set spending limits — Configure max monthly spend in your API dashboard

Comparison with Alternatives

Tool	Monthly Cost	Model
Claude Code (Sonnet)	~$50-100	Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude Code (Opus)	~$100-200	Claude Opus 4.6
Cursor Pro	$20 flat	Multi-model
GitHub Copilot Pro	$10 flat	GPT-5
Windsurf	$15 flat	Multi-model
Ollama (local)	$0	Open-source models

The shift to pay-per-token makes Claude Code more expensive than flat-rate alternatives for heavy users, but potentially cheaper for light users who only need a few sessions per day.

Last verified: April 4, 2026