Anthropic · Claude Code
Claude Code.
Anthropic's coding agent · terminal, IDE, desktop and browser · one engine
Claude Code is a coding agent that reads a repository, edits files across it, runs commands and works with git from plain-language instructions. It has no price of its own — access rides on a Claude subscription, a Team seat, an API key or a cloud marketplace. There is no free tier. It is strongest on long multi-file work in an existing codebase, and it is the wrong tool the moment your requirement is offline, fully local, or open source.
What it is.
Short version, before the detail: an agent that edits your repository, not a chat window that suggests code you paste.
The distinction that matters is agency. An autocomplete tool proposes the next few lines and waits; Claude Code takes an instruction, decides which files to open, changes them, runs the commands it needs, and reports what it did. That makes it useful on work that spans a dozen files and useless as a faster way to type — the overhead of describing a one-line change exceeds the change.
It began as a terminal program and now also runs in VS Code and JetBrains, a desktop app and the browser, on one engine that carries your project instructions and settings between them. Which underlying model it uses is deliberately not fixed: it runs the recommended model for your account or your organisation's default, and you override that per session. Configuration is written against aliases rather than model IDs, so it survives the next release.
The parts that show up in practice are the ones about controlling it rather than prompting it — a plan mode that proposes an approach before touching anything, subagents that keep verbose work out of the main conversation, hooks that preprocess data before it reaches the model, and MCP servers for connecting tools it does not ship with. Most complaints about cost and quality trace back to skipping those, not to the model.
Every line below is a question we answered on its own page — most of them by running the thing on our own machine and publishing the transcript. The verdict pill is the answer; the page behind it is the proof. Nothing is repeated here, because a summary of our own evidence is worth less than the evidence.
There is no single price, and any page that gives you one has picked a buyer on your behalf. Four routes, four units of billing — the full breakdown, with the cancellation and refund terms, is on the pricing page.
| Route | Bought as | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro | Subscription | $20/mo $17/mo billed annually |
| Claude Max 5x | Subscription | $100/mo |
| Claude Max 20x | Subscription | $200/mo |
| Team · standard seat | Per seat | $25/seat/mo $20/mo billed annually |
| Team · premium seat | Per seat | $125/seat/mo $100/mo billed annually |
| Enterprise | Per seat | Contact sales |
| Claude Console API key | API key | At model rates |
| Cloud providers | Marketplace | Set by the cloud |
When it is the wrong tool.
Written from our own runs, including the ones where it refused or fell short. Every item links to the page carrying the transcript, so you can check the claim rather than take it.
Four pairs we have already worked through in full. Each row says what the pair actually decides, because "which is better" is rarely the question anyone has — the real one is which shape of tool fits the way you already work.
| Pair | What it decides | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Cursor vs Claude Code | Terminal agent against an editor. The comparison is about where you want the work to happen, not which model is smarter. | 2026-08-13 |
| Codex vs Claude Code | The closest like-for-like: two CLI agents from two labs, so this one really is about capability and price. | 2026-08-13 |
| Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot | Agent against completion. Copilot is priced per seat for a different job; teams often end up paying for both. | 2026-08-13 |
| Gemini CLI vs Claude Code | The free-tier question. Google's CLI gives away what Anthropic sells, and the trade-off shows up in long sessions. | 2026-08-13 |
If one of the cases above is yours, the list of what to use instead — open source options included — is on its own page, with each competitor's entry price read off the vendor's own site and dated.
Frequently asked.
What people search next.