Claude’s knack for coding attracts users. As a result, the launch of Claude 4 drew even more people to Claude Code, expanding the user base by more than 50%, according to the company. The feature lets developers use the coding assistant directly, writing and managing code.
Now you can join in on the Claude Code fun for less.
Also: Anthropic’s free Claude 4 Sonnet aced my coding tests – but its paid Opus model somehow didn’t
On Wednesday, Anthropic announced it’s making Claude Code available to Pro Plans, granting subscribers access to both Claude Code and Claude with the $20 per month subscription. This tool is particularly powerful because it places the coding assistant in the developer’s workspace, whether that be the terminal, inside their IDE, or running in the background with the Claude Code SDK.
Pro vs. Max ($20 vs. $200)
There are some limitations in the Pro plan’s version of Claude Code compared to that of the Max plan, including shorter coding periods of one to two hours in smaller codebases. If you do need higher access, you can subscribe to the Max plan; however, that starts at $100 per month for expanded usage, five times more than Pro, or $200 per month for maximum flexibility, at 20x more usage than Pro.
Anthropic has been rapidly releasing updates to its Pro plan that make it a competitive option, especially if you don’t require the higher usage limits that only superusers would need. For example, this week, Anthropic also made two of its most powerful features — Research and Integrations — available to Claude Pro subscribers.
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The Research feature allows Claude to agentically search hundreds of sources to generate comprehensive reports with proper citations, with the option of drawing from connected apps and your Google Workspace in addition to the web. Separately, the Integrations feature allows developers to build MCP-compliant applications – an open standard for connecting AI assistants to data systems securely – leveraging Claude’s assistance and enabling users to connect those applications to Claude.
Demand for subscriptions
The launch of Claude 4 has given Anthropic momentum. The company said paid subscriptions tripled since then. Beyond the Claude Code user base increasing, Anthropic also said the feature’s usage has grown by over 80%, measured by token usage. OpenAI has seen similar success and just announced that it has surpassed 3 million paying business users.
Also: Anthropic’s free Claude 4 Sonnet aced my coding tests – but its paid Opus model somehow didn’t
This shows that despite reports that there may not be as big of a demand for AI subscriptions, such as a ZDNET-Aberdeen research report, which found that only 8% of Americans would pay extra for AI, there is an audience for these subscriptions, justifying the supply from vendors. Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity AI, and Google all offer competing subscription services that are vying for your $20 per month. As competition continues to grow, you can expect more upgrades to the subscription offerings to entice users to their subscription.
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