Claude & the Claude Developer Platform for Beginners

Claude API vs Claude Pro: Why Your Subscription Doesn't Include It

Why Claude Pro doesn't include the Claude API: they are two products with two bills. A plan (Free, Pro, Max, Ultra) pays a flat monthly price for the Claude apps and Claude Code, signed in as you, with usage limits; the API is for your own code, needs an API key from the Console (platform.claude.com) and prepaid credits, and bills every token. We run a small Python script with no key and with a made-up key, send the same request through Claude Code on a Pro plan, and work out what one email summary and 6,000 a month cost on Haiku, Sonnet and Opus. Plus the exception: Max and Ultra include monthly API credits, and how Claude Code fits on both sides.