# Is Claude Free? What You Get on the Free Plan, and What Pro, Max and Ultra Add

> Claude's Free plan costs nothing and covers chat, web search, Docs, Slides and Design on Sonnet and Haiku, with usage limits every five hours and every week. Opus and Claude Code start on the $20 Pro plan.

By Pat Simmons · November 4, 2026 · 9 min read

Canonical: https://www.aiformortals.co/blog/is-claude-free

Yes, Claude is free. Anthropic's Free plan costs $0 a month, and anyone in a supported location can use it by signing up at claude.ai with an email address. It covers chat on the web, desktop and phone apps, web search, file creation, memory, connected apps, Artifacts, and Claude Design, Slides and Docs, on Anthropic's Sonnet and Haiku models.

What Free limits is how much you use. The pricing page gives it "limited usage every 5 hours and every week" and publishes no message count. Opus and Claude Code aren't included. Both start with Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month if you pay for the year up front, according to Anthropic's pricing page. Max is $100 a month and Ultra is $200.

We checked every price and plan detail on this page against Anthropic's pricing page and help center on November 4, 2026. Anthropic says its prices and plans can change at its discretion.

PlanPriceModelsClaude CodeDesign, Slides, DocsUsage limit

Free$0Sonnet, HaikuNoYes"Limited usage every 5 hours and every week"
Pro$20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly ($200 up front)Opus, Sonnet, Haiku; Fable paid with usage creditsYesYes"More usage than Free, every 5 hours and every week"
Max$100 a month (monthly only)Opus, Sonnet, Haiku; Fable up to half your weekly limitYesYes"5x Pro usage every 5 hours and every week"
Ultra$200 a month (monthly only)Opus, Sonnet, Haiku; Fable up to half your weekly limitYesYes"No 5-hour limit" for verified accounts, "10x Pro usage every week"
Team (2 to 150 people)$25 a seat a month, or $20 billed yearly"All Claude features"YesYes"More usage than Pro" per standard seat

Every cell comes from Anthropic's pricing page, checked November 4, 2026. US prices before tax.

_The four individual plans on Anthropic's pricing page, with the Free card's full feature list on the left. Screenshot taken November 4, 2026, from claude.com/pricing._

## Is Claude free to use?

Yes. The pricing page lists the Free plan at $0 and calls it "Free for everyone." Anthropic's help center says anyone in a supported location can use the free version by going to claude.ai and signing up with an email address, and its getting-started guide says you must be at least 18.

Once you're signed up, you can chat in the browser at claude.ai, in the desktop app for Mac or Windows, or in the iPhone and Android apps. The pricing page's comparison table marks all of these as included on Free.

_Anthropic's help article on the Pro plan, with the Pro price and the line on how to use Claude for free. Screenshot taken November 4, 2026, from What is the Pro plan?._

## What the Free plan includes

The Free plan includes chat, web search, files, memory, connected apps, Artifacts, and Claude Design, Slides and Docs. These are the items on the Free card of Anthropic's pricing page:

- Chat on web, desktop and mobile

- Search the web, create files and run code

- Memory across conversations

- Connect your apps and tools

- Create Artifacts

- Claude Design, Slides and Docs

The comparison table further down the same page also marks voice mode, Skills, incognito chats and desktop extensions as included on Free. Free gets up to 5 projects, which Anthropic's FAQ describes as a way to organize your chats and documents.

Docs, Slides and Design came out of beta and opened to every plan in October, which we covered in Docs, Slides and Design on the Free plan. On models, Free gets Sonnet and Haiku, including Claude Haiku 5.5, the small model you can pick in the app.

The same table lists what Free leaves out: Opus, Fable (which Anthropic calls its top model), Claude Code, Research, handing off and scheduling tasks, Claude in Chrome, Claude for Microsoft 365, and usage credits for working past your limit. Claude Motion isn't on any individual plan, Free or paid.

_The Models and usage rows of the plan comparison table. Free shows an X for Opus, Fable and usage credits. Screenshot taken November 4, 2026, from claude.com/pricing._

## How long can you use Claude for free?

Anthropic's pricing page and help center list no end date for the Free plan. What they limit is how much you use: the Free card says "limited usage every 5 hours and every week."

The five-hour window starts when you send your first message and resets in full five hours later, according to Anthropic's help article on usage limits. Its getting-started guide adds that on Free, the number of messages you can send varies based on demand, and Claude tells you when you've hit your limit.

Anthropic gives no message count for any plan. How far your allowance goes depends on how long your chats are, the files you attach, the model you pick and the features you use. Its pricing FAQ says Free "covers everyday questions," and that Pro gives "at least 5x more usage per 5-hour session than Free."

When you hit the limit on Free, you can wait for the reset or move to a paid plan. Paid plans can also turn on usage credits to keep working at API rates, and Free can't. Anthropic says it may also cap usage in other ways, such as weekly and monthly caps, on any plan.

## Is there a Claude Pro free trial?

No Pro free trial appears on Anthropic's pricing page or in its Pro plan help article as of November 4, 2026, and the same goes for Max and Ultra. The Free plan is how you try Claude before paying. On the pricing page, the only plan marked as offering trials is Enterprise bought through Anthropic's sales team.

The help article says Anthropic has no standard discounts on Pro, Max or Ultra and "occasionally" runs limited-time promotions, announced on its official channels. Its support team can't hand out one-off discounts or coupons.

If you pay for Pro and it isn't for you, you can cancel any time and keep the plan until the billing period ends. Your account then moves to the Free plan, and your chats, projects and files stay, per the pricing page's FAQ. People in the European Economic Area and the UK can request a refund in the app within their 14-day withdrawal period.

## Claude Free vs Pro, Max and Ultra: prices and limits

Free is $0, Pro is $20 a month ($17 a month billed yearly), Max is $100 a month and Ultra is $200 a month, according to Anthropic's pricing page. Each step up adds usage, and Pro is where Opus and Claude Code start.

Pro: $20 a month
Pro has everything in Free plus more usage, Opus, Claude Code, Claude Science, Projects, Claude Dashboards (beta), handing off and scheduling tasks, and Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365. Fable is available on Pro, paid with usage credits.

Pro has a five-hour limit and a weekly limit that covers all models, according to the Pro plan help article. You can turn on usage credits to keep going after you hit either one. The Pro plan doesn't include API usage, the pay-per-use access developers use to build their own apps.

Max: $100 a month
Max gives "5x Pro usage every 5 hours and every week," Fable for up to half your weekly limit, $100 a month in API credits, early access to new features and priority access when Claude is busy. It's billed monthly only.

The API credits are for building on Anthropic's developer platform. They can't be used in Claude Code or the Claude apps, including for usage credits.

Ultra: $200 a month
Ultra gives "10x Pro usage every week," $200 a month in API credits, and no five-hour limit once Anthropic has verified your account. Ultra is the old Max 20x plan under a new name, and existing subscribers moved over with no price change. Anthropic verifies accounts automatically from your account and payment history, and a temporary five-hour limit applies until then. More on that in Claude's $200 Ultra plan and its limits.

Team and Enterprise
Team is for groups of 2 to 150 people. A standard seat costs $25 a month, or $20 a month billed yearly, and a premium seat with 5x the usage of a standard seat costs $125 a month, or $100 billed yearly. Enterprise costs $20 a seat a month billed yearly, with a 20-seat minimum, plus usage at API rates, per the pricing page.

## Claude Code and Opus: what Free leaves out

Claude Code and Opus both need a paid plan. The pricing page marks both as unavailable on Free and says Claude Code is included in all paid plans, starting with Pro at $20 a month.

Claude Code is Anthropic's coding tool that works with Claude in your terminal or in code editors such as VS Code, Cursor and JetBrains. The terminal is the window on your computer where you type commands. It shares one usage allowance with your Claude chats, so coding and chatting draw from the same limit. Our guide to Claude Code for beginners (needs Pro or above) walks through it.

On Free, you can still ask Claude for code in a chat. The Free card lists "run code," which is the code Claude runs inside the chat to create files.

Opus is on Pro, Max and Ultra. Fable costs extra usage credits on Pro and is included on Max and Ultra for up to half your weekly limit.

## Is claude.ai free like ChatGPT?

Yes, both have a free plan, and they limit it in different ways. ChatGPT's Free plan is offered at no cost, and its card on OpenAI's pricing page lists "Unlimited text chats with GPT-6," with a note that unlimited is "subject to abuse guardrails."

The rest of ChatGPT's Free card is marked limited: uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research, memory and context, Codex (OpenAI's coding tool) and ChatGPT Work on desktop. Claude's Free plan has a usage limit every five hours and every week covering all your chats, and no Claude Code.

## Who can stay on Free, and who should pay

Free covers you if you use Claude to chat, write, search the web, and make docs, decks and designs, and you can wait for a reset when you hit the limit. Those features are all on the Free card.

Pro is the plan to look at if you want Opus, Claude Code, Research, more than 5 projects, Claude in Chrome or Microsoft 365, or usage credits so a limit doesn't stop you mid-task. Anthropic says Pro gives at least 5x the usage of Free in each five-hour window.

Max and Ultra are for people who run into Pro's limits during the day. Ultra fits if the five-hour window is the limit that stops you, since verified Ultra accounts don't have one. Team adds central billing and admin controls for groups.

For changes to Claude's apps and models, see what's new in Claude.

## Questions people ask

Is Claude Desktop free?
Yes. The desktop app for Mac and Windows is included on the Free plan, along with the web and phone apps.

Is Claude Design free?
Yes. Claude Design, Slides and Docs are all on the Free card of the pricing page.

Can you use Claude Opus for free?
No. The pricing page lists Opus on Pro, Max and Ultra only.

Is Claude Max free?
No. Max costs $100 a month, billed monthly, and Anthropic's help center says it has no standing discounts on individual plans.

Can you get Claude Pro free for a month?
Anthropic's pricing page and Pro help article list no one-month free offer as of November 4, 2026. Anthropic says it occasionally runs limited-time promotions and announces them on its official channels.

Do you need a credit card for the Free plan?
Anthropic's help center says you sign up with an email address, and the pricing page lists payment options as "n/a" for Free.

Can you keep Claude from training on your Free chats?
Yes. The pricing page's comparison table lists model training as "Opt-out" on Free, Pro, Max and Ultra.

## Sources

- Claude pricing

- Claude Help Center: What is the Pro plan?

- Claude Help Center: How do usage and length limits work?

- Claude Help Center: Use Claude Code with your Pro, Max, or Ultra plan

- Claude Help Center: What is the Ultra plan?

- Claude Help Center: Get started with Claude

- ChatGPT pricing

- ChatGPT Free plan