What Claude Code costs. And how to pay 39% less.
Claude Code runs fine on your own API key. Point it at APIsRouter and Opus 5.5 costs $3 / $16 per million tokens instead of $4 / $20, with +30% on your first top-up.
Same session, priced both ways
Token counts from the sample /usage session in Anthropic's Claude Code cost guide.
- 1.2k input · 5.3k output · 940k cache read · 50k cache write
- Anthropic list price: $0.55
- On APIsRouter: $0.43
- With your first top-up: $0.33
How to pay for Claude Code on your own
Subscriptions trade a flat price for usage windows. Tokens cost what you use. Anthropic plans and API rates as listed on claude.com/pricing, September 2026.
| Option | Price | How usage works | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro | $20 a month, or $17 billed yearly | Included usage that resets every 5 hours, plus a weekly cap | Trying Claude Code a few hours a week |
| Claude Max 5x | $100 a month | 5x the Pro usage, same windows | Daily work that fits the windows |
| Claude Max 20x | $200 a month | 20x the Pro usage, same windows | Heavy daily work that fits the windows |
| Anthropic API | Per token, at list price | No windows. Anthropic puts the average at $150 to $250 per developer per month | Teams billed by Anthropic |
| APIsRouter | Per token, 20 to 25% under list | No windows and no subscription. Credit never expires | Paying only for the work you run, with other models on the same key |
Claude model prices, per million tokens
Claude Code sends most of your context as cache reads, so the cache read column is the one that fills the bill. Anthropic list prices from platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing, September 2026. Cache writes at the 5-minute rate.
| Model | Input: APIsRouter / Anthropic | Output: APIsRouter / Anthropic | Cache read: APIsRouter / Anthropic | Cache write: APIsRouter / Anthropic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Fable 5.1 | $8 / $10 | $40 / $50 | $0.20 / $0.25 | $10 / $12.50 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $3 / $4 | $16 / $20 | $0.15 / $0.20 | $4 / $5 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $4 / $5 | $20 / $25 | $0.40 / $0.50 | $5 / $6.25 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $1.50 / $2 | $8 / $10 | $0.15 / $0.20 | $2 / $2.50 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | $1.50 / $2 | $8 / $10 | $0.15 / $0.20 | $2 / $2.50 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.80 / $1 | $4 / $5 | $0.08 / $0.10 | $1 / $1.25 |
Switch in one minute
- Get a key: Top up from $10 below. The key and a login link arrive by email.
- Point Claude Code at APIsRouter: Add these lines to ~/.claude/settings.json.
- Run claude: Signed in with Pro or Max? Run /logout first so Claude Code uses your key. Anthropic documents gateway setups like this one.
{
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.apisrouter.com",
"ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "sk-your-apisrouter-key",
"ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-opus-5-5",
"ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "claude-opus-5-5",
"ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-5-5",
"ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"
}
}Two ways to pay
Both fill one balance, spent at the prices above. Pay as you go from $10 with no account, with +30% on the first top-up. Claude Max costs $100 or $200 a month with usage windows. APIsRouter Plus ($100) and Pro ($200) cost the same and add $112 and $230 to your balance every month, with no windows.
FAQ
How much does Claude Code cost?
On a subscription, $20 a month for Pro and $100 or $200 for Max. On the API you pay per token, and Anthropic puts the average at $150 to $250 per developer per month. Through APIsRouter the same tokens cost 20 to 25% less.
Is Claude Code free?
Installing it is free, but Claude's free plan does not include Claude Code. You need Pro or Max, or an API key billed per token. On APIsRouter you can start on a $2 trial credit: sign in and claim it from your dashboard, no card needed. After that, top up from $10.
Is Claude Max worth it?
If you work inside the 5-hour and weekly windows every day, Max is predictable. If you hit the limits, code in bursts or want to pay only for the weeks you code, pay per token.
Does Claude Code work with an API key instead of a subscription?
Yes. Claude Code reads ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, and Anthropic documents gateway setups. The agent stays the same: same tools, same models, same output.
Why is most of the bill cache reads?
Claude Code resends your whole conversation with every request and serves most of it from the prompt cache. In Anthropic's sample session, 940k of about 1M tokens were cache reads, so the cache read price matters more than the headline input price.
Which Claude models can I use?
Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Opus 4.8, Sonnet 5.5, Sonnet 5 and Haiku 4.5 at the prices above, plus GPT, Gemini and DeepSeek on the same key.
What happens when my balance runs out?
Requests stop until you top up. There are no overage bills, and unused credit never expires.