Claude
Verdict
Evidence: Editorial assessmentClaude is a strong default for long documents, careful writing and coding, and its plan prices are published clearly. The September 2026 releases (Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5) cut API prices versus the previous generation. The main caveat is usage limits: the Free plan does not publish a message number, and heavy users end up on Max.
Quick facts
| Claude | |
|---|---|
| Maker | Anthropic |
| Category | AI Chatbots & Assistants |
| Pricing model | Free plan available |
| Status | Active |
| Official site | claude.ai |
| Data last checked | 5 October 2026 |
Key facts and sources
| Claim | Detail | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer and team plans | Free $0; Pro $20/month or $200/year ($17/month); Max from $100/month (5x or 20x Pro usage); Team Standard seat $25/month or $20/month billed annually; Team Premium seat $125/month or $100/month billed annually; Enterprise $20/seat/month plus usage at API rates. | Verified | Claude pricing, 5 October 2026 |
| API prices per 1M tokens (input / output) | Fable 5.1 $10 / $50; Opus 5.5 $4 / $20; Sonnet 5.5 $2 / $10; Haiku 4.5 $1 / $5. | Verified | Claude pricing, 5 October 2026 |
| Context window | Up to 1M tokens, varying by model. | Verified | Claude pricing, 5 October 2026 |
| Plan access | Claude Code is included in all paid Claude plans and shares usage limits with the plan. | Verified | Claude pricing, 5 October 2026 |
| Release and pricing | Announced 22 September 2026. API $4 input / $20 output per 1M tokens; cache reads $0.20 and cache writes $5 per 1M. Available on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans and on AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. | Verified | Anthropic: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5, 5 October 2026 |
| Release and pricing | Announced 28 September 2026. API $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens; cache reads $0.20 and cache writes $2.50 per 1M. Available on AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. | Verified | Anthropic: Introducing Claude Sonnet 5.5, 5 October 2026 |
| Release and access | Announced 1 September 2026. Fable 5.1 is generally available (API $10 / $50 per 1M tokens). Mythos 5.1 is restricted to vetted US organisations through Anthropic's Cyber Verification and Life Sciences Verification programmes. | Verified | Anthropic newsroom and Fable 5.1 / Mythos 5.1 announcement, 5 October 2026 |
| Vendor benchmark and cost claims | Anthropic says Opus 5.5 performs at the level of Fable 5.1 on most work, costs 40% less to run than Opus 5 and generates output more than 30% faster. Reported scores: Terminal-Bench 4.0 66.4%; OSWorld 2.1 81.8% (partial); GDPval-AA v2.1 1,846 Elo. | Claimed by provider | Anthropic: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5, 5 October 2026 |
| Vendor benchmark and speed claims | Anthropic says Sonnet 5.5 generates output 30%+ faster than Sonnet 5, costs up to 30% less per task and scores nearly level with Opus 5.5 on GDPval-AA v2.1. Reported scores: Terminal-Bench 4.0 70.6%; OSWorld 2.1 80.1% (partial); CursorBench 4.0 55.5%. | Claimed by provider | Anthropic: Introducing Claude Sonnet 5.5, 5 October 2026 |
Pricing
Claude plans
Evidence: Verified| Plan | Price | Billing | Key limit | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | Everyday use; limits not published as a number | 5 October 2026 |
| Pro | $20 / month ($17 / month billed annually) | Monthly or annual ($200 / year) | Includes Claude Code | 5 October 2026 |
| Max | From $100 / month | Monthly | 5x or 20x Pro usage | 5 October 2026 |
| Team (Standard seat) | $25 / seat / month ($20 billed annually) | Per seat | Team admin features | 5 October 2026 |
| Team (Premium seat) | $125 / seat / month ($100 billed annually) | Per seat | Higher usage seat | 5 October 2026 |
| Enterprise | $20 / seat / month + usage at API rates | Per seat plus usage | Custom pricing also available | 5 October 2026 |
Who should use it
- Reading and drafting long documents, reports and contracts
- Developers who want Claude Code included in a chat subscription
- Teams that want per-seat pricing with a published annual discount
Who should skip it
- You need built-in image generation inside the assistant
- You want a free plan with a published, fixed message allowance
Limitations and risks
- Usage limits on Free and Pro are described qualitatively, not as fixed numbers.
- Benchmark figures quoted by Anthropic are vendor-reported; aixjo has not run its own tests.
- Mythos 5.1 is restricted to vetted US organisations and is not part of consumer plans.
- Model access was interrupted once: Anthropic suspended Fable 5 and Mythos 5 in June 2026 after a US government directive.
How it compares: Claude alternatives
ChatGPT
OpenAI's AI assistant for writing, analysis, coding, image creation and voice, on web, desktop and mobile.
Grok
xAI's AI assistant, available in X and its own apps, with access to real-time posts on X.
DeepSeek
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek's open-weight language models, released under the MIT licence, plus a chat app and API.
Pi
Inflection AI's conversational assistant designed for supportive, personal chat.
Character.AI
A chat app for talking with user-created AI characters for entertainment and role-play.
Rating
Not yet rated. We show a rating only when at least four of six criteria have documented evidence. How we rate AI tools
Common questions
How much does Claude cost in October 2026?
Claude Free is $0. Pro is $20 a month, or $200 a year ($17 a month). Max starts at $100 a month. Team seats are $25 (Standard) or $125 (Premium) a month, less when billed annually. Prices checked on claude.com/pricing on 5 October 2026.
Which Claude model should I use, Opus 5.5 or Sonnet 5.5?
Start with Sonnet 5.5 for everyday writing, analysis and coding: on the API it costs half as much as Opus 5.5 ($2 / $10 vs $4 / $20 per million tokens). Anthropic says Sonnet 5.5 scores nearly level with Opus 5.5 on GDPval-AA; test both on your own tasks before committing.
Is Claude Code included in Claude Pro?
Yes. Anthropic's pricing page says Claude Code is included in all paid plans and shares usage limits with the rest of your plan. Heavy coding use is the most common reason people move from Pro to Max.
What is the largest context window in Claude?
Anthropic's pricing page lists context windows of up to 1M tokens, varying by model. Per-model output limits were not listed on that page when we checked on 5 October 2026.
Sources
- Claude pricing · checked 5 October 2026
- Anthropic: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5 · checked 5 October 2026
- Anthropic: Introducing Claude Sonnet 5.5 · checked 5 October 2026
- Anthropic newsroom and Fable 5.1 / Mythos 5.1 announcement · checked 5 October 2026
- Claude official site