Launched 2025 · Verified Oct 15, 2026

Claude Code

Active

AI Coding Assistants1Write a reviewUnited StatesEffect71/ 100

Anthropic's coding agent that reads a repository, edits files and runs commands from the terminal, IDE, desktop app, browser or Slack

coding agentterminal agentcode refactoringtest generationmcpPaid · from $17/mo

Listed on EffectHub · Aug 16, 2026

macOS · Linux · Windows · Web · iOS · Android · VS Code extension · Slack app · API

Screenshot of the Claude Code website — claude.com as we captured it — our own screenshot, not the vendor’s press image.

Pricing

Pricing model: Paid
Paid options from: $17/mo
Billing: Monthly

No free tier: Claude Code is excluded from the Free plan and needs a paid Claude subscription or API billing. Pro is $17/month billed annually ($200 up front) or $20 month-to-month; Max is $100/month for 5x Pro usage and $200/month for 20x, each bundling the same amount in API credits; Team seats are $20/month billed annually or $25 monthly (Premium seats $100/$125) for 2-150 users; Enterprise is $20 per seat/month billed annually with a 20-seat minimum plus usage at API rates. Usage shares the plan's rolling five-hour and weekly limits; Console accounts pay per token at API rates instead.

Use tool ↗

Overview

About Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool: you hand it a task such as a bug fix, a test suite or a multi-day migration and it reads the codebase, edits files across the project, runs commands and tests, and opens pull requests, asking for approval on risky steps. The same engine runs in the terminal, in VS Code and JetBrains extensions, in a desktop app with side-by-side sessions and scheduled tasks, in the browser and mobile apps, and from GitHub, GitLab or Slack. It is extended with CLAUDE.md instructions, MCP servers, hooks, skills, plugins and parallel subagents, and the Agent SDK exposes the harness for custom agents. There is no free tier: it needs a paid Claude plan, which it shares limits with, or per-token Console billing. It left research preview in May 2025.

Platforms: macOS · Linux · Windows · Web · iOS · Android · VS Code extension · Slack app · API
API: Yes
Last verified: Oct 15, 2026

Verified sources

Product page: hand it a bug fix, test or multi-day migration and steer from terminal, IDE, Slack or web; VS Code, Cursor and JetBrains extensions, web and iOS/Android apps, desktop app for paid plans, GitHub and GitLab integration; Pro $17/month annual or $20 monthly, Max 5x $100 and 20x $200 with matching API credits, Console at API rates (15 October 2026)claude.com ↗
Pricing page: Free excludes Claude Code; Pro $17/month annually ($200 up front) or $20 monthly; Max from $100/month; Team $20 per seat annually or $25 monthly, Premium $100/$125, 2-150 seats; Enterprise $20 per seat/month annually, 20-seat minimum plus API-rate usage; Claude Code shares the plan's five-hour and weekly limits (15 October 2026)claude.com ↗
Announcement dated 22 May 2025: Claude Code is now generally available after its research preview, with beta VS Code and JetBrains extensions and a Claude Code SDKanthropic.com ↗
Docs overview: surfaces are terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop app, web and mobile; extensions via CLAUDE.md, MCP, hooks, skills, subagents, background agents and the Agent SDK; GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Slack and Chrome integrations; most surfaces require a Claude subscription or Console account (15 October 2026)code.claude.com ↗

Fact check

Is Claude Code legit?

We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.

Domain registered: May 24, 1995 (31 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar MarkMonitor Inc., looked up Sep 6, 2026
TLS certificate: Issued by Google Trust Services, valid until Dec 21, 2026Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 15, 2026
Last checked: Oct 15, 2026The site answered
On the market since: 2025The vendor's own material, read by us
Operated by: Anthropic, United StatesOur research, card verified Oct 15, 2026

How we collect these records

Editorial verdict

Pros & cons of Claude Code

high confidence

Claude Code is the reference point for terminal-first coding agents: it works from a plain shell, reaches into every editor and chat surface Anthropic ships, and its extension points (MCP, hooks, skills, subagents) are deep enough that teams build their own workflows on it. The buying decision is really about usage: Pro is enough to try it, but sustained agentic work eats the shared five-hour and weekly limits fast, and the realistic budgets are Max at $100-200 or per-token Console billing. Skip it if you want an autocomplete pane or cannot let an agent run commands in your repo.

Pros

One engine across terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, mobile, GitHub, GitLab and Slack, sharing CLAUDE.md, settings and MCP servers
Extension points for real customisation: MCP servers, hooks, skills, plugins, parallel subagents and an Agent SDK
Auto mode with checks on risky commands, scheduled routines and cloud sessions that keep running when the laptop is closed
Included in every paid Claude plan from $17/month, with Max tiers bundling API credits

Cons

No free tier, and the Free plan explicitly excludes it
Usage comes out of the same rolling five-hour and weekly limits as chat, so heavy sessions hit the ceiling on Pro
Running it at scale means Max at $100-200 a month or per-token API spend that is hard to forecast
IDE extensions and the Linux desktop app still carry beta labels

Best for

Developers who live in the terminal and want an agent that runs tests and opens PRs rather than suggesting lines
Teams automating review, triage and migrations through GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or Slack
Engineering orgs that want to script custom agents on the same harness via the Agent SDK

Not for

Anyone wanting a free or inline-autocomplete coding assistant
Environments where an agent executing shell commands against the codebase is unacceptable

Watch out: Pro at $17-20 shares one usage pool between chat and Claude Code with a rolling five-hour window plus a weekly cap; budget for Max or Console billing if the agent will run for hours a day.

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