Is Claude Code Free? Pricing, Free Tier, and How to Use It for Free (2026)

Claude Code, the command-line coding agent from Anthropic, is free to install and open-source. What you pay for is the model behind it — every time the agent reads your files, writes code, or runs a command, it makes an API call that costs tokens. You can run it for free, but the free tier is tight enough that most people hit the wall within a session or two.

Here's exactly what's free, what the paid plans cost, and how to keep using Claude Code for free.

🎯 Quick Answer

Claude Code is free to install, pay-per-use to run. The tool is open-source and costs nothing to download; the Claude models that power it bill per token, so a real coding session quietly racks up usage in the background.

🆓 Claude Code Free Tier — What You Actually Get

You can run Claude Code on a free Claude.ai account, with no credit card and no trial that auto-renews into a charge. The catch is the cap: a free account gives you roughly 2 to 5 prompts per 5-hour window before it locks you out until the window resets.

That's enough to install Claude Code, point it at a small project, and watch it edit a file or two so you can see how the agent feels.

For real work it runs out fast. A single multi-file refactor or a debugging session burns through five prompts before you've finished describing the problem, and then you're waiting hours for the limit to lift. The free tier works as a demo.

💸 Claude Code Pricing — The Paid Plans

If you want Claude Code to keep up with actual work, you pay for the model one of two ways:

• A flat monthly subscription that includes usage — the simpler path for most people, with Claude Code bundled into every paid Claude plan.
• Metered API billing where you're charged per token, with no monthly subscription.

Here's how the plans compare:

Which one fits depends on how hard you push it:

• Pro ($20/month) is where most individual developers land — Claude Code is included in the Pro plan along with the rest of Claude, and the limits hold up to daily coding.
• Max ($100/month) raises the ceiling for people who live in the agent all day.
• API (pay-as-you-go) skips the subscription and bills purely on tokens — cheaper for light, occasional use, and much more expensive for heavy use, since your bill scales straight with usage.

🔓 How to Use Claude Code for Free

There are two official ways to use Claude Code for free, both straight from Anthropic:

• The free Claude.ai tier — 2 to 5 prompts per 5-hour window.
• Free Anthropic API credits — about $5 for new accounts, good for a few sessions.

Both have a hard ceiling, which is worth understanding before you rely on either.

🌐 The free Claude.ai tier

A free Claude.ai account costs nothing and works with Claude Code out of the box. You get the 2-to-5-prompts-per-window limit described above, which suits occasional use — one small fix every few days, and the free tier carries it. Past that, the window resets become the bottleneck, and you spend most of your time waiting for the next slot.

💳 Free Anthropic API credits

New Anthropic API accounts come with about $5 in free credits. Pointed at Claude Code, that stretches to roughly 8 to 16 sessions, or one to three days of intensive use, depending on how large your files are and how much the agent reads. It's the most generous free option Anthropic gives you, and once it runs out you move to pay-as-you-go pricing, where the bill scales with every token.

Both options work for trying Claude Code out. The moment coding becomes a daily habit, you're choosing between a subscription and a tool that runs your own models instead.

🦞 The Best Free Claude Code Alternative — Atomic Bot

Atomic Bot is a free platform for running AI agents — OpenClaw and Hermes — either locally on your Mac or in the cloud. Where Claude Code lives in your terminal for the length of a session, Atomic Bot runs an always-on agent that codes and handles the rest of your work: email, calendar, files, the browser, and over 100 connected apps through a marketplace of prebuilt skills.

Here's why it's the free alternative worth setting up:

• Atomic Bot is free to use — you run powerful open-source agents at no cost, with no per-prompt window to wait out.
• Atomic Bot lets you control model costs — Claude Code is wired to Anthropic's models, so your bill is Anthropic's bill. Atomic Bot connects to Claude, GPT, Gemini, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and lets you switch the model whenever the math changes — a cheaper model for routine work, the expensive one saved for hard problems.
• Atomic Bot wraps Claude Code — through Hermes you delegate coding straight to the Claude Code CLI, which reads files, writes code, runs shell commands, and manages git on its own, then reports back. You keep Claude Code's coding strength and gain an always-on agent around it.
• Atomic Bot runs continuously — the agent stays up after you close the terminal, remembers context across tasks, and reaches you through messaging apps.

Claude Code is still the better choice for focused, single-session coding inside your editor — multi-file refactors, debugging, writing tests. Atomic Bot wins when you want an agent that stays running and gives you a free choice of model across providers.

If you're hitting the free tier's limits and want to keep coding for free, Atomic Bot is the alternative to set up first.

To dig into how the pieces fit, see What is Hermes Agent, Hermes vs OpenClaw, and OpenClaw vs Claude Code.

⚖️ Free Claude Code vs Paid — Which Should You Use?

The decision comes down to how much you'll use it:

• Just trying Claude Code? Run it on the free Claude.ai tier or with the $5 in free API credits. Both are enough to see what the agent does before you spend anything.
• Coding in your IDE every day? Claude Pro at $20/month is the cleanest path — Claude Code is included and the limits hold up to daily work.
• Want an always-on agent and control over model costs? Atomic Bot is the free alternative — it runs continuously, codes through Claude Code when you need it, and lets you switch models to keep usage cheap.

❓ FAQ

Does Claude Code cost money?

Claude Code is free to install, but the Claude models that power it cost money to run. You get a small amount of free usage through a free Claude.ai account or $5 in free API credits; beyond that you pay through a subscription (from $20/month) or per-token API billing.

Is Claude Code free in VS Code?

The Claude Code VS Code extension is free to install, the same as the CLI. It still runs on the same metered Claude models, so the free-tier limits and paid plans apply identically whether you use it in the terminal or in VS Code.

Is Claude Code available in the free tier?

Yes. A free Claude.ai account can run Claude Code, capped at roughly 2 to 5 prompts per 5-hour window. That covers trying the agent and light occasional fixes; sustained work needs a paid plan or a free alternative like Atomic Bot.

Is there a free alternative to Claude Code?

Atomic Bot is a free platform that runs AI agents and can delegate coding to Claude Code, while letting you switch between Claude, GPT, Gemini, and other models to control costs. It's the closest free, always-on alternative for people who hit Claude Code's limits.

Is there a Claude Code free trial?

Claude Code has no separate timed free trial. The free entry point is the free Claude.ai tier (2 to 5 prompts per 5-hour window) plus the roughly $5 in free API credits for new Anthropic accounts. Both act as the trial — you use Claude Code for free until the allowance runs out, then move to a paid plan.

Is Claude Code free for students?

Anthropic has no public student discount code for Claude Code, but students have a few routes to it for free. Claude for Education gives free Pro access (which includes Claude Code) to students at partner universities, the GitHub Student Developer Pack bundles Claude model access, and the standard $5 in free API credits applies to any new account. Annual billing also drops Pro from $20 to about $17/month for everyone, students included.

Is Claude Code free forever?

The tool stays free to install and open-source. The free usage allowance is limited, though — the free Claude.ai tier and the $5 in API credits run out, and once you exceed them you need a subscription or pay-as-you-go credits to keep going.