API vs Claude Pro+SDK - Should You Switch?

Plug in your current monthly Claude API spend and how heavily you use Agent SDK / Claude Code. See whether switching to a subscription helps once the SDK carve-out takes effect.

Effective 2026-06-15
What this calculator does

Compares your current Claude API spend against a Claude subscription (Pro, Team, or Enterprise) plus its Agent SDK credit, to show whether switching saves money once the SDK carve-out applies.

Why use it
  • In 2026 Anthropic gives subscription plans a monthly Agent SDK / Claude Code credit metered at API rates - so heavy agent users can sometimes get that usage cheaper inside a subscription.
  • Whether switching helps depends entirely on how much of your spend is agentic and which plan you compare - this prices it for your situation.

New to this calculator? Start with the ⚡ Playground — a few sliders, instant ballpark. Then switch to the 🧮 Calculator for your exact number.

Two ways to use this: visualize in the Playground, then get your number in the Calculator.

API vs Pro SDK Breakeven Playground
Drag the sliders to see the recommendation.
API pay-as-you-go vs a Claude plan — which fits?

At low, steady usage a flat plan can beat metered API — especially if you value interactive Claude. Seats apply to Team/Enterprise only.

Best-value plan
Change the input sliders below to see the recommendation.

Best-value plan

💡We compare your metered API spend against flat plans and pick the best-value option, crediting interactive Claude at the value you set.

API vs Pro SDK Breakeven Calculator

Enter your exact numbers for a precise result.
📊 Not sure of a value? Fields with a ▾ Typical pill offer broad industry ballparks (sourced typical ranges) so you can move forward now — your result gets more accurate as you replace them with your own measured numbers. Values marked * are rough estimates.

Your situation

Start from a usage profile (optional - fills the fields, then computes)

Results

Pricing freshness: Catalog:
✓ Curated · verified today ago
+$10.00/mo
Annual: +$120.00 · Cash gap (excl. interactive value): $0.00/mo
medium agent usage
Medium agent usage — credit largely consumed, overflow at full API rates.
Cost-roughly-neutral on cash; gain interactive Claude as bonus. Consider Max 5x ($100 credit) if your agent spend is climbing.
**Pro** saves $10/month ($120/year) when you value interactive Claude at 50%. Cost-roughly-neutral on cash; gain interactive Claude as bonus. Consider Max 5x ($100 credit) if your agent spend is climbing.

API only (baseline)

$100.00/mo
Pay-as-you-go, no subscription

Pro + SDK

$100.00/mo
Plan cost + agent overflow + non-agent API

Where the $100/mo goes

Plan cost
$20
Agent portion (split)
$50
SDK credit used
$20 / $20
Agent overflow (full API rate)
$30
Non-agent API (full rate)
$50
Interactive value realized
$10 / $20
Plan eligible for SDK?
Yes
Min seats
1

All plans ranked by net savings (your inputs applied)

#PlanPlan costSDK credit Agent overflowCash gap/moNet savings/mo
1 Pro $20 $20 $30 $0.00 +$10.00
2 Max 5x $100 $100 $0 +$50.00 $0.00
3 Team Standard $125 $100 $0 +$75.00 $-12.50
4 Max 20x $200 $200 $0 +$150.00 $-50.00
5 Team Premium $625 $500 $0 +$575.00 $-262.50
6 Enterprise (usage-based) $1000 $1000 $0 +$950.00 $-450.00
7 Enterprise (seat-based, Standard seats) (not eligible) $3000 $0 $50 +$3000.00 $-1500.00
8 Enterprise (seat-based, Premium seats) $5000 $10000 $0 +$4950.00 $-2450.00
Methodology + caveats
  • SDK credit is a CARVE-OUT not a discount: prepaid voucher at full API rates, not a rate reduction
  • Agent overflow (beyond SDK credit) bills at standard API rates per Anthropic docs
  • Non-agent API spend (interactive Claude Code, chat) always at full API rates
  • Pre-June-15: Pro/Max subsidized agent usage 15-30× cheaper than API; post-June-15 this subsidy ends
  • Agent intensity (light/medium/heavy) drives default split; override via monthly_agent_sdk_spend_usd
  • Multi-seat plans scale plan cost and SDK credit by num_users; Team plans require min 5 seats

Pricing data last updated 2026-07-28. Plan values verified against Anthropic pricing pages; SDK carve-out math reflects 2026-05-13 announcement and effective 2026-06-15.

Go deeper

Our playbooks on cutting this number.

📊
Plan Overage Calculator
When a plan tips into overage
🧭
Subscription Picker
Pick the right Claude plan
🧮
Cost Calculator
Baseline API cost

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📖 Data sources & methodology 163 text models · 9 embeddings · 37 vision · 55 audio · 8 vector DBs across 10 vendor pages · last verified 2026-07-28

Methodology

  • All prices are USD per 1 million tokens, current as of 2026-07-28.
  • Vendor-published values have no mark. Inferred/extrapolated values are marked with * and listed below.
  • Batch API discounts are 50% off standard rates across providers that offer Batch mode.
  • Prompt caching discounts vary by provider (typically 80-90% off cached input tokens).
  • Regional data-residency surcharges (Anthropic 1.1x, OpenAI 1.1x, Google regional tiers) are NOT included in base rates.
  • Long-context pricing tiers apply when input exceeds model threshold.
  • Embedding prices are input-only (no output tokens generated).

Primary sources

Last-verified date is the most recent successful daily snapshot (aicost_pricing_snapshots) or, when no snapshot exists yet, the latest successful crawler run (aicost_crawler_runs). 10 of 10 vendors are currently verified. Aggregator services (TokenCost, AI Pricing Guru, etc.) are not listed.

Anthropic
2026-07-28
https://www.anthropic.com/pricing
Daily snapshot since Sep 2023 · 631 days captured
Anthropic Docs
2026-07-28
https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing
Daily snapshot since Sep 2023 · 631 days captured
OpenAI
2026-07-28
https://openai.com/api/pricing/
Daily snapshot since Sep 2023 · 632 days captured
Google AI
2026-07-28
https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing
Daily snapshot since Dec 2023 · 607 days captured
Google Vertex
2026-07-28
https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/pricing
Daily snapshot since Dec 2023 · 607 days captured
DeepSeek
2026-07-28
https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing
Daily snapshot since May 2024 · 546 days captured
xAI
2026-07-28
https://x.ai/api
Daily snapshot since Nov 2024 · 464 days captured
Mistral
2026-07-28
https://mistral.ai/pricing
Daily snapshot since Dec 2023 · 605 days captured
Cohere
2026-07-28
https://cohere.com/pricing
Daily snapshot since Sep 2023 · 631 days captured

Inferred values (marked with * in calculator tables)

Derived from industry conventions, not directly published by the vendor. Typical conventions: cached input = 10% of base (90% off), Batch API = 50% of base (50% off).

Vendor / Model Field Why it’s inferred
Anthropic — Claude Sonnet 4.6 cachedInput Derived at 10% of input rate — Anthropic publishes 90% cache-hit discount on this tier.
Anthropic — Claude Sonnet 4.5 cachedInput Derived at 10% of input rate; same 90% cache-hit convention as Sonnet 4.6.
Anthropic — Claude Sonnet 4.5 batchInput Derived at 50% of standard input — Anthropic documents uniform 50% Batch discount.
Anthropic — Claude Sonnet 4.5 batchOutput Derived at 50% of standard output — Anthropic documents uniform 50% Batch discount.
Anthropic — Claude Haiku 4.5 cachedInput Derived at 10% of input rate — Anthropic 90% cache-hit discount convention.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Mini cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — OpenAI documents automatic 90% discount on cache hits across GPT-5.x tier.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Nano cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — OpenAI 90% cache-hit convention.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Nano batchInput Derived at 50% of input — OpenAI Batch API uniform 50% discount.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Nano batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — OpenAI Batch API uniform 50% discount.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Pro cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — OpenAI 90% cache-hit convention.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Pro batchInput Derived at 50% of input — OpenAI Batch API uniform 50% discount.
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 Pro batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — OpenAI Batch API uniform 50% discount.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 cachedInput Derived at 10% of input; no residency uplift.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5 cachedInput Derived at 10% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5 batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5 batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5.5 Pro cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — OpenAI does not publish a cached rate for *-pro models; using the family convention.
OpenAI — GPT-5.5 Pro batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5.5 Pro batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 Pro cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — pro-tier convention.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 Pro batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5.2 Pro batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5.1 batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5.1 batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5 Pro batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5 Pro batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
OpenAI — GPT-5 Nano cachedInput Derived at 10% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5 Nano batchInput Derived at 50% of input.
OpenAI — GPT-5 Nano batchOutput Derived at 50% of output.
Google — Gemini 3 Flash cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — Google caching discount convention ~90%.
Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — Google caching convention.
Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite batchInput Derived at 50% of input — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.5 Pro cachedInput Derived at 10% of input.
Google — Gemini 2.5 Flash cachedInput Derived at 10% of input.
Google — Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — Google caching convention.
Google — Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite batchInput Derived at 50% of input — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash cachedInput Derived at 25% of input per Google 2.0 family caching rates.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash batchInput Derived at 50% of input — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite cachedInput Derived at 10% of input — Google caching convention.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite batchInput Derived at 50% of input — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
Google — Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite batchOutput Derived at 50% of output — Google Batch API uniform 50% discount.
xAI — Grok 4 (legacy) cachedInput Extrapolated at 25% of base.

Pricing is cross-verified against the LiteLLM community registry when available. Daily snapshots are kept in aicost_pricing_snapshots; every change is logged to aicost_price_changelog with old & new values for full audit trail. Read the full methodology →