Get to know the tool
About Claude
Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant for writing, analysis, coding and document work, aimed at professionals and teams who want careful, long-form answers rather than quick one-liners. According to Claude’s official website, Claude is free at $0 for everyone, and Claude Pro costs $17/month with an annual subscription or $20/month billed monthly. If your work is mostly words, spreadsheets and code, Claude is arguably the most polished chatbot of the big three.
What is Claude?
Claude is a conversational AI assistant from Anthropic that runs on the web, desktop and mobile apps. It chats, searches the web, creates files, runs code, and remembers context across conversations. Anthropic sells Claude in individual plans (Free, Pro and Max) alongside Team and Enterprise plans for organisations, and the same subscription also unlocks Claude Code, Anthropic’s coding tool, on paid tiers.
Developers who want the flagship model itself can read our Claude Opus 5.5 review, which covers the model’s agentic coding strengths and its per-token API pricing.
Key Features of Claude
- Chat everywhere: Claude works on web, iOS, Android and desktop, with voice mode and incognito chats among the listed capabilities.
- Files and code execution: Claude creates and edits real files — documents, spreadsheets, slides — and runs code to analyse data, even on the free plan.
- Artifacts: Build small apps, documents and interactive content in a side panel and share them, a feature included from the free tier.
- Memory and Projects: Claude keeps memory across conversations, and Pro adds Projects to organise chats and documents around a topic, with sharing on team plans.
- Claude Code: Included in all paid plans, Claude Code brings the same assistant into the terminal for serious development work, sharing your plan’s usage pool.
- Connectors and app integrations: Connect your apps and tools so Claude can work with them; Pro also adds Claude in Chrome and Claude for Microsoft 365.
- Scheduled tasks: Pro lets you hand off and schedule tasks, so routine jobs run without you sitting in the chat.
- More models: Paid plans unlock more Claude models, and Anthropic lists context windows of up to 1M tokens, varying by model.
How to Use Claude
- Go to claude.com, create a free account, and start a chat on web, desktop or mobile.
- Attach documents or data when a task needs them, and ask Claude to draft, summarise, compare or analyse.
- Use Artifacts when you want a document, table or small tool you can revisit and share, rather than plain chat text.
- On Pro, organise ongoing work in Projects and connect your everyday apps so Claude can act on real files.
- Manage your plan any time in Settings, under Billing; upgrades apply immediately and downgrades at the end of the billing period.
How Much Does Claude Cost?
According to Claude’s official pricing page, Claude is freemium: the Free plan costs $0, Claude Pro costs $17 per month with an annual subscription ($200 billed up front) or $20 if billed monthly, and Claude Max starts at $100 per month. Prices shown do not include applicable tax.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation and code execution, memory across conversations, connectors and Artifacts |
| Pro | $17/mo* | More usage, Claude Code, Projects, more Claude models, scheduled tasks, Claude Dashboards (beta), Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365 |
| Max | From $100/mo | Everything in Pro with 5x or 20x more usage than Pro, higher output limits, priority access at busy times and monthly API credits |
*Pro is $17/month with an annual subscription ($200 billed up front) or $20/month billed monthly. Last verified: October 2026.
Pros and Cons of Claude
Pros
- Excellent long-form writing and document work; answers read like a careful colleague wrote them.
- The free plan is unusually generous, including file creation, code execution, memory and Artifacts.
- Pro includes Claude Code, which makes the subscription double as a developer tool.
- Annual Pro pricing undercuts the headline monthly rate of its closest rivals.
Cons
- Usage is metered on rolling five-hour windows plus weekly caps, so heavy days can end early.
- Claude’s plan pages focus on text, code and documents; there is no built-in image or video generation feature listed.
- Max pricing jumps steeply from Pro, and the 5x/20x structure takes a moment to understand.
- Payments are generally non-refundable outside the exceptions in Anthropic’s terms.
Who Should Use Claude?
Claude suits writers, analysts, researchers and developers whose work is mostly text and code, and who value careful, well-structured answers over flashy extras. Consultants and knowledge workers will get the most from Pro’s Projects and Claude Code. If you mainly want image or video generation inside your chatbot, a rival is a better fit; if you want an assistant that handles documents like a professional, Claude is the one to beat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Claude free to use?
Yes, Claude has a free plan at $0 that Anthropic describes as free for everyone. The free version of Claude includes chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation with code execution, memory across conversations, connectors and Artifacts, with usage limits that reset on a rolling basis.
How much does Claude Pro cost?
Claude Pro costs $17 per month with an annual subscription, billed as $200 up front, or $20 per month if billed monthly, according to Anthropic’s pricing page. Claude Pro adds more usage, Claude Code, Projects, access to more Claude models, scheduled tasks and Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365.
What is Claude Max?
Claude Max is Anthropic’s top individual plan, starting at $100 per month for people who work with Claude all day. Claude Max includes everything in Pro plus a choice of 5x or 20x more usage than Pro, higher output limits, priority access at busy times and monthly API credits.
Is Claude Code included in paid plans?
Yes, Claude Code is included in all of Claude’s paid plans, including Pro and Max. Usage in Claude Code draws from the same limits as your chats on web, desktop and mobile, and heavy coding sessions can switch to pay-as-you-go API credits through a separate Console account.
Final Verdict
Claude is the thinking person’s chatbot: superb with documents and code, honest pricing, and a free plan that already does real work. The usage windows demand a little planning on heavy days, but for writing, analysis and development, Claude Pro at $17/month on annual billing is one of the best-value AI subscriptions available.
A good fit starts with the details. Check the official website for current features, pricing and availability before choosing a tool.
