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Claude Code cost calculator

On the API, Claude Code is billed per token: input, output, cache writes and cache reads, each at the model's price per million tokens. Enter what you use in a day to see the monthly cost on Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Fable 5.1 or Haiku 5.5, next to the $20 Pro, $100 Max 5x and $200 Max 20x plans.

Model

$4 in · $20 out · $5 cache write · $0.2 cache read, per million tokens

Tokens a day, in millions

The presets are rough examples, not averages. Agentic coding is mostly cache reads.

On the API, a month

$726

$33 a day$8,712 a year

Input6%

Output24%

Cache writes45%

Cache reads24%

THE SAME MONTH, NEXT TO THE PLANS

API, pay as you goOpus 5.5$726
ProPro's per-session usage$20
Max 5x5× Pro per session$100
Max 20x20× Pro per session$200

This much would cost $726 on the API, more than Max 20x at $200. A plan only saves money if your usage fits inside its limits. Prices checked October 2026.

TIMECARDCLAUDE CODE
OPUS 5.522 DAYS
PER DAY
$33
PER YEAR
$8,712
INPUT0.5M
OUTPUT0.4M
CACHE WRITES3M
CACHE READS40M
API COST A MONTH$726
MORE THAN MAX 20X
timecardmac.site/tools

Your real numbers, not a guess.

Timecard reads the history Claude Code and Codex keep on your Mac and adds up tokens and API value for every session.

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Claude API prices per million tokens

ModelInputOutputCache writeCache read
Opus 5.5$4$20$5$0.2
Sonnet 5.5$2$10$2.5$0.1
Fable 5.1$10$50$12.5$0.25
Haiku 5.5$0.1$0.5$0.125$0.01

Source: claude.com/pricing, October 2026. Five-minute caching; Haiku 5.5 is higher above 100K-token prompts.

Why Claude Code bills look the way they do

An agent re-reads the conversation on every step. Claude caches that history, so most tokens in a long session are cache reads, which are cheap one by one but add up. Output is the most expensive token, and the one you control least.

A day of Opus 5.5TokensCost
Input0.5M$2.00
Output0.4M$8.00
Cache writes3M$15.00
Cache reads40M$8.00

Plan or API?

If the same usage costs more on the API than a plan, and it fits in the plan's limits, the plan wins. The catch is the limits: a heavy day can use a five-hour window early. Timecard reads your real sessions on your Mac and shows the API value of each one, so you know which side of the line you're on.

Claude Code Cost Calculator
questions

How much does Claude Code cost?

With a Pro or Max plan it's the plan price: $20, $100 or $200 a month, up to the plan's limits. On the API you pay per token. Opus 5.5 is $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens, with cache reads at $0.20 and cache writes at $5.

Why do cache reads matter so much?

Every turn of an agentic session re-sends the conversation so far. Claude caches it, and cached tokens cost a twentieth of normal input on Opus 5.5, but there are a lot of them. In long sessions they're usually most of the tokens and a big share of the bill.

Is a Max plan cheaper than the API?

If your usage would cost more than the plan on the API and still fits within the plan's limits, yes. Max 5x includes five times Pro's per-session usage and Max 20x twenty times. Heavy days can hit the five-hour or weekly limit, so compare your real usage, not a guess.

How do I see my real token usage?

API users can run /cost in Claude Code for the current session. Timecard reads the history Claude Code and Codex keep on your Mac and adds up tokens and API value for every session, day and project.

Are these prices current?

They're Anthropic's list prices as of October 2026, for five-minute prompt caching. Haiku 5.5 costs more for prompts over 100,000 tokens.

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