Claude Platform
Pay per token, from $0.10 per million input tokens (Haiku 5.5); small free credit for new users
Anthropic's API and console for building Claude models into your own product and agents, billed per token
The Claude Platform is Anthropic’s product for developers: the Claude API, the console where you manage keys and billing, and a set of tools for building agents. Until 2026 it was called the Claude Developer Platform. You pay per token, and new users get a small amount of free credit to test with.
The four current models cover a wide price range. Haiku 5.5 ($0.10 input, $0.50 output per million tokens on prompts up to 100K) is fast and cheap enough for high-volume features, Sonnet 5.5 ($2 / $10) and Opus 5.5 ($4 / $20) handle coding and agents, and Fable 5.1 ($10 / $50) is aimed at long-running autonomous work. Prompt caching and the batch discount bring the real cost down if you plan for them.
It suits founders building an AI feature or agent into their own product. If you only want to chat with Claude or code with Claude Code, a Claude plan is the simpler route.
Pros
- Four models from Haiku 5.5 ($0.10 in, $0.50 out per million tokens) to Fable 5.1 ($10 / $50)
- Batch processing cuts the price by 50% for work that doesn't need an instant answer
- Up to 1 million tokens of context, plus built-in web search, code execution and computer use
Cons
- New accounts start on the Start usage tier, which has entry-level rate limits
- The largest models cost a lot at volume: Fable 5.1 output is $50 per million tokens
- Managed Agents add $0.08 per session-hour of active runtime on top of token costs
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