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Claude, Anthropic’s brainchild and one of the best chatbots available, has become a standout multimodal AI assistant. It impresses users with its ability to remember context throughout lengthy conversations, pick up on nuance, and creatively solve problems.
Similar to other leading chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, Claude can also write long and cohesive pieces of text, dish out lines of code, and even generate apps.
Claude offers three individual plans plus an additional two for businesses. Named Free, Pro, and Max, the individual tiers Claude has to offer are targeted towards different kinds of users. Whether upgrading to the Pro tier makes sense really depends on what you’d like to get out of your Claude experience.
To make things slightly easier for you, here’s everything you need to know about each of Claude’s subscriptions.
Claude's plans — what you need to know
Claude lets users pick one of three individual plans — a similar offering compared to other AI assistants in this category and at similar price points too.
At a grand total of zero dollars, Claude Free lets you create text, analyze images, and search the web. Paid Claude subscriptions start at $20/month (or $200 for an annual plan) for Claude Pro, offering more access.
On the higher end of the scale is Claude Max, which gets you everything Claude has to offer.
Anthropic also created two team and enterprise plans for businesses.
Claude Free: what do you get?
Claude’s Free plan is perfect for people still testing the waters as they figure out which AI assistant is best for them.
With a basic account, you’re able to use Claude through a web browser or a dedicated iOS and Android app. Creating text, generating code, and analyzing images are all possible, but heavy users are likely to reach their usage limits fairly quickly.
Still, the free tier also lets Claude search the web and connect to desktop extensions.
Claude Pro: More usage, more productivity
For around $20/month, Claude Pro gives you around five times more usage of everything included in the free tier, plus priority access to Claude when the service is in high demand.
But that’s not all. You’ll also unlock access to Claude's research model, the ability to connect to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Docs, extended thinking, and access to more Claude models.
One caveat: even with a paid Claude subscription, image generation isn’t on the table. If visuals are a must-have, you’ll need to turn to another AI assistant.
Claude Max: Your pass to everything Claude has to offer
If you’re looking for even more usage access to Claude, the Claude Max plan lets you get the most out of Claude.
The Max plan will set you back around $100 a month and includes everything in the Free and Pro plans. Extra benefits include at least 5 times more usage than what you get in the Pro plan and higher output limits for all tasks
The Max plan does not give you access to any models or features that aren’t part of the previous plans, but once new ones come out, you’ll get early access.
Should I upgrade?
Occasional users should be perfectly happy with Claude Free as it covers most day-to-day needs. Claude’s reasoning and writing skills are strong enough in this plan to handle your prompts, but usage caps may be a limiting factor.
Frequently working with longer documents and prompts arguably justifies upgrading to Claude Pro. At $20/month it's in line with ChatGPT Plus and Gemini Pro, but the lack of image and video generation features is important to keep in mind.
Since the benefits of Claude Max are practically limited to higher usage than Pro, it’s worth testing out the Pro version first. If you find yourself frequently exceeding your usage allowance, then make the jump to Claude’s top tier.
The takeaway
Claude is one of the smartest AI chatbots around, quietly crushing it when it comes to crunching numbers, debugging code, and creating a piece of creative writing.
The generous Free plan is perfect to get you started and get a feel for how Claude handles your prompts. Frequent users upgrading to Claude Pro are likely to notice the higher usage they gain. Additionally, the ability to connect the AI bot to your Google products could make you tremendously more productive, especially if you’re using the right prompts.
Claude’s Max plan skips the flashy extras. Its main selling point is simply higher usage limits than Pro. So it makes sense to start with Pro and only move up to Max if you’re consistently hitting Claude’s message limits.
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More from Tom's Guide
- Anthropic launches its best version of Claude yet — but it will cost you $200 a month
- Claude vs ChatGPT explained: What each AI does best — and how to choose the right one
- Claude can now connect to Google Drive, Canva, Slack and more — here’s how to try it
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