Free calculator

How much does Claude Code actually cost you?

Set your usage pattern below and see the monthly bill at API rates, compared honestly against Pro, Max 5x, and Max 20x.

Sessions per day3
Days per month you use it22
Typical workload
Model
39.60Mtokens / month
$15.46/ month at API rates

93.9% of a real Claude Code bill is cache reads, not fresh input - most calculators only price fresh input and undershoot your real number.

How that stacks up against a flat plan

  • Pro$20.00/mo$17/mo billed annually
  • Max 5x$100.00/mo5x Pro's usage allowance
  • Max 20x$200.00/mo20x Pro's usage allowance
  • API (Sonnet 5)Cheapest for this pattern$15.46/mopay-as-you-go, no flat fee

Pro and Max are flat-rate usage allowances, not metered at these rates - Anthropic does not publish an exact token-to-plan conversion. Max exists to raise your rate-limit ceiling, not just to cut cost, so treat this as a cost anchor, not the whole decision.

This is a pattern-based estimate. Run the free scan to replace it with your real number, measured from your own sessions.

npx usagecutRun a free scan
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How this estimate works

Priced like a real bill, not a token multiplier

Most Claude Code cost calculators take a token count you have to already know and multiply it by a single input price. That is backwards: measured across 1,037 real sessions, cache reads alone are 93.9% of billed tokens, and fresh input is only 0.5%. This calculator prices your pattern across all four billing buckets - fresh input, cache write, cache read, and output - at Anthropic's current published rates, the same mechanics explained in Claude Code cache and compaction, explained.

The plan comparison is deliberately honest about its own limits. Pro ($20/mo) and Max ($100/mo or $200/mo) are flat-rate usage allowances gated by rate limits, not metered token buckets - Anthropic does not publish an exact conversion between the two. So this tool shows what your pattern would cost billed at raw API rates and lets you weigh that against each plan's flat price, rather than pretending to know a number nobody discloses.

An estimate is still an estimate. For your real number - measured from your own sessions, not modeled from a pattern - run the free UsageCut scan, or see how many tokens Claude Code is actually using per session.

Free tools

More free tools for Claude Code

Small, focused, no-signup tools from the maker of ClockedCode. Free to use, forever.

UsageCutScan your real Claude Code setup and see exactly where your tokens are wasted, then cut it losslessly.CLAUDE.md Token CounterPaste your CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md to count its tokens and see which sections look conditional enough to move out.MCP Server Token Cost CheckerPaste your mcpServers config to see the estimated token cost per server, worst first, with tool-search deferred loading on or off.CLAUDE.md GeneratorAnswer a few questions about your stack and get a CLAUDE.md scoped to just that, with a live token cost per section.Context Window CalculatorSee what percent of your context window is used, your headroom before compaction, and the cache-read cost of carrying it.Usage Limit CalculatorProject your Claude Code usage-limit headroom across Pro, Max 5x, and Max 20x from your own baseline and Anthropic's confirmed usage multiplier.Subagent Cost CalculatorSee whether spawning N Claude Code subagents actually saves tokens versus doing the same work in one session, using the measured 216-token subagent overhead.Token Usage AnalyzerPaste lines from a Claude Code session transcript to see the token breakdown by cause: conversation text vs tool output, tool output by Read/Bash/agent calls, and duplicate file reads.Best MCP Servers for Claude CodeBrowse popular Claude Code MCP servers by category and see each one's estimated token cost per session, sorted worst to best.Hook Token Cost CalculatorPaste your hooks config to see the estimated token cost per hook, worst first, classified by how often each event actually fires.Tool Search Token Savings CalculatorPaste your mcpServers config to see how many tokens Claude Code's tool search saves by deferring schemas, and whether a custom auto:N threshold would load them upfront instead.Opus vs Sonnet Cost CalculatorSee the dollar gap between running Claude Code on Opus vs Sonnet, plus the honest (not naive) savings from pinning just the Sonnet-safe turns.Claude Code Model PickerAnswer 5 questions about your current task to get a straight verdict: stay on Opus, hand it to a Sonnet subagent, or use opusplan.Which Claude Plan Should You UseAnswer a few questions about your usage and team size to get a straight Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise recommendation with real current pricing.Compaction Cost CalculatorSee how many times a Claude Code session will hit auto-compact and what each compaction actually costs in tokens, cache-warm or cold.

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Calculator FAQ

About this estimate

Is this my exact Claude Code bill, or an estimate?

An estimate. It models a monthly token load from the pattern you set (sessions per day, workload, model) using this project's own measured session-composition data, then prices it at Anthropic's published API rates. Your real number depends on your actual files, prompts, and tool use - run the free scan below to measure it directly instead of estimating it.

Why not just multiply my tokens by the model's input price?

Because that undershoots badly. Measured across 1,037 real Claude Code sessions, 93.9% of billed tokens are cache reads (priced at 10% of input) and 4.9% are cache writes (priced above input) - fresh input is only 0.5% of the total. A calculator that prices everything as fresh input is pricing the smallest slice of the bill.

Does this know exactly what Max 5x or Max 20x covers?

No, and no honest tool can: Anthropic sells Max as a rate-limit multiplier on Pro, not a published token bucket. This calculator shows what your pattern would cost at metered API rates and lets you compare that figure to each plan's flat price - Max's real value is the higher rate-limit ceiling, not just a cost swap.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Is UsageCut really free?

Yes. The scan and every fix are free - no card, no subscription, no signup. You only give an email if you want the optimization plan and one-command undo sent to your inbox.

Is my code safe? Does UsageCut upload anything?

The scan runs entirely on your machine. It never uploads your code, never reads your API key, and never sends your prompts or conversations anywhere. Only anonymous summary counts leave, and only if you choose to share them.

How does it reduce Claude Code token usage?

It reads your local setup and session history to find waste - idle MCP servers loaded into every session, an oversized CLAUDE.md re-sent on every request, duplicate file reads, and bloated tool output - then trims it losslessly, so each session carries less context and you hit your limit far less often.

What is ClockedCode?

ClockedCode is the curated, conflict-free Claude Code setup from the same maker. UsageCut makes your current setup leaner; ClockedCode makes it genuinely better - a set of hand-picked tools, specialist agents, and a tuned CLAUDE.md, installed in one paste.

Who is ClockedCode for?

Developers who use Claude Code daily and want a setup that is powerful out of the box instead of spending hours researching and wiring up plugins, agents, and MCP servers themselves.

What's included in ClockedCode?

A vetted, conflict-free bundle of hand-picked tools, specialist agents, and a tuned CLAUDE.md - everything installed together in one paste, with no setup archaeology.

Is ClockedCode a one-time payment?

Yes. ClockedCode is a one-time purchase with an instant download - no subscription and no recurring fees.

Does ClockedCode work with my existing setup?

Yes. It installs alongside what you already have and is fully reversible. Run UsageCut first to clean your current setup, then add ClockedCode to level it up.