Claude
Anthropic's AI assistant for coding, long documents and careful, instruction-following work. Essential in this category.
The take
What is Claude?
Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant. You can use it on the web, desktop and mobile, and paid plans add Claude Code, Projects without the free cap, Research and Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365.
How does Claude work?
Claude runs on Anthropic’s model family. The pricing page lists Sonnet and Haiku on every plan, Opus from Pro up, and context windows of up to 1M tokens depending on the model.
Projects
Projects group related chats so you can come back to the same piece of work with the same context. Free accounts get up to 5 Projects; Pro and above include Projects without that cap. Sharing and collaborating on Projects is not part of Free, Pro or Max, so teams that want shared Projects should look at the Team plan.
Artifacts, files and code
Claude can create Artifacts, and it can create and edit files with code execution, on every plan, including Free. In practice this is the reason to pick Claude for iterative code and document work: you keep refining one output instead of copying text between apps.
Web search, memory and connectors
Web search, memory across conversations and connectors to your apps and tools are available on every plan, including Free, per Claude’s pricing page.
How does Claude compare to ChatGPT?
Both have a free plan with web search. Claude’s entry paid plan costs more than ChatGPT Go but slightly less than ChatGPT Plus on annual billing. The prices below come from each vendor’s pricing page on October 6, 2026. For Gemini and Perplexity, see our Gemini and Perplexity pages and the AI chatbots category.
| Attribute | Claude | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0, with web search, memory and Artifacts | $0, with search and limited uploads, image creation and deep research |
| Cheapest paid plan | Pro: $17/mo annual ($20 monthly) | Go: $8/mo (may include ads) |
| Main individual plan | Pro: $17/mo annual ($20 monthly) | Plus: $20/mo |
| Top individual plan | Max: from $100/mo | Pro: from $100/mo |
| Coding agent | Claude Code, from Pro | Codex, limited on Free and Go |
| 80/20 verdict | Pick for coding and long documents | Pick for broad daily use |
See the full head-to-head in ChatGPT vs Claude.
Who should use Claude?
Claude fits developers who want Claude Code in the same subscription (it is included from Pro), analysts and researchers who work through long documents, and teams that want Claude inside Chrome and Microsoft 365 (Pro and above). Teams of 2 to 150 can mix standard and premium seats on the Team plan.
When should you skip Claude?
- You want a library of ready-made assistants. ChatGPT includes custom GPTs from Plus.
- The cheapest paid plan matters most. ChatGPT Go is $8 a month; Claude’s cheapest paid plan is Pro at $17 a month on annual billing.
- Cited research is the whole job. Compare Perplexity, which is built around research answers.
How much does Claude cost?
Claude has a free plan. Paid plans start at $17 per month on annual billing, per Claude’s official pricing page as of October 6, 2026.
| Plan | Price (as captured) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Chat on web, desktop and mobile; web search, memory, Artifacts |
| Pro | $17/mo annual ($20 monthly) | $200 billed up front annually; includes Claude Code, Projects, Research |
| Max | From $100/mo | 5x or 20x more usage than Pro; priority access at high traffic times |
| Team (standard seat) | $20/seat/mo annual ($25 monthly) | More usage than Pro; teams of 2 to 150 |
| Team (premium seat) | $100/seat/mo annual ($125 monthly) | 5x more usage than standard seats |
| Enterprise | US$20/seat/mo, billed annually | Usage cost scales with model and task |
Prices as captured from Claude’s pricing page on October 6, 2026. Prices exclude applicable tax, and vendors change pricing often, so check the live page before you buy.
What are Claude’s key limitations?
Claude can be wrong. Like every large language model, it can produce fluent text with factual errors or invented citations, so treat outputs with specific facts, statistics or citations as drafts to verify.
Usage limits apply on every plan, per the pricing page. If you hit them often on Pro, Max offers 5x or 20x Pro’s usage and priority access at high traffic times, starting at $100 a month.
On individual plans (Free, Pro and Max), model training on your chats is opt-out, per the pricing page. The Team plan states no model training on your content by default.
How we evaluated Claude
Every fact on this page (pricing, plans, free-tier status and features) was captured from Claude’s official pages (about, home, integrations, pricing) on October 6, 2026 and checked against that capture before publishing. ChatGPT figures in the comparison come from ChatGPT’s pricing page, captured the same day. Claims we could not confirm on those pages were removed rather than guessed. The verdict and the when-to-use guidance are Priya Nair’s editorial judgment. See our evaluation methodology for how we score tools.
Strengths & trade-offs
What earns the score
- Artifacts make it easier to iterate on generated code and documents without copy-pasting
- Web search, memory, connectors and file creation with code execution are on the free plan
- Claude Code is included from Pro, so one subscription covers chat and a coding agent
Where it falls short
- Usage limits apply on every plan; heavy users may need Max, which starts at $100/month
- The cheapest paid plan (Pro, $17/month annual or $20 monthly) costs more than ChatGPT Go ($8/month)
- Project sharing and collaboration is not included on Free, Pro or Max
- Free accounts are limited to 5 Projects
How it compares
| Tool | Score | Tier | From |
|---|---|---|---|
 Perplexity | 95 | Essential | $17/mo |
 ChatGPT | 94 | Essential | $8/mo |
| Claude | 89 | Essential | $17/mo billed annually |
 Google Gemini | 75 | Strong | $4.99/mo |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Claude cost?
Claude Free costs $0 for everyone. Pro is $17/month with an annual subscription discount ($200 billed up front), or $20 if billed monthly, and adds Claude Code, Projects, Research and more usage. Max starts at $100/month for 5x or 20x more usage than Pro. Team standard seats are $20/seat/month billed annually ($25 monthly) and premium seats $100/seat/month ($125 monthly). Enterprise is US$20/seat/month billed annually, with usage cost that scales with model and task. Prices per claude.com/pricing on October 6, 2026.
Does Claude have a free plan?
Yes. Claude Free costs $0 and includes chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation and code execution, memory across conversations, connectors to your apps and tools, Artifacts, and up to 5 Projects, per claude.com/pricing on October 6, 2026.
Can Claude search the web?
Yes. Web search is included on every Claude plan, including Free, per Claude's pricing page on October 6, 2026. Research is included from Pro.
Does Claude train on my chats?
On the individual plans (Free, Pro and Max), model training is opt-out, per Claude's pricing page. The Team plan states no model training on your content by default.
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