What is Claude AI? Plans, pricing and models in 2026

Claude AI is an AI assistant built by Anthropic that you can use on the web, on your computer, and on your phone. The Free plan costs nothing, Pro is $20 a month, and Claude is available in supported regions.

Claude AI is Anthropic's assistant, and it runs on web, desktop and mobile

As of Oct 12, 2026, the Models overview page describes Claude as a family of large language models developed by Anthropic. For everyday users, Claude is a chat window: you ask questions, hand off tasks, attach files, and Claude answers or produces the work.

You can open Claude in three places. In a browser, go to claude.ai. On a computer, the Download Claude page has apps for macOS, Windows, Windows arm64 and the Microsoft Store, with separate docs for Linux. On a phone, scan the QR code on that page or visit claude.ai/mobile to get the app.

If you also want to try other chatbots, our guide to DeepSeek covers a free assistant from China.

The desktop and mobile apps work on every plan, including Free. When you sign in with the same account, your conversations, projects, memory and preferences sync across devices, according to the FAQ on the download page.

Free covers daily use, and Pro at $20 adds Claude Code and Opus

The Claude pricing page, read on Oct 12, 2026, lists three individual plans. Free costs $0 and includes chat on every device, web search, file creation, code execution, memory, app connections, Artifacts, plus Claude Design, Slides and Docs. Free lets you create up to 5 Projects.

Pro costs $17 a month with annual billing ($200 billed up front) or $20 billed monthly. Pro adds Claude Code, Research, Claude in Chrome, Claude for Microsoft 365, and access to the Opus model. The Pro plan help article says prices may show in your local currency where supported, so check claude.ai/upgrade for your exact price.

The Max plan comes in two tiers: Max 5x at $100 and Max 20x at $200 a month, billed monthly only. These are web prices, and mobile in-app pricing may differ. Max also includes $100 or $200 in monthly API credits.

On the pricing page, the Team plan is for groups of 2 to 150 people. A Standard seat costs $20 a month billed annually or $25 billed monthly. A Premium seat costs $100 or $125 and gives 5x the usage of a Standard seat. Enterprise is $20 per seat per month billed annually, plus usage at API rates, and the seat purchasing help article says it requires a minimum of 20 seats.

According to the pricing FAQ, limits are not a fixed message count. Every plan resets on a rolling five-hour session, and paid plans add weekly limits. Chat on web, desktop, mobile and Claude Code all draw from one pool. Pro gives at least 5x the Free usage per session.

Four current models, and Free uses Sonnet and Haiku

The Models overview page lists four models as of Oct 12, 2026. Claude Fable 5.1 is for demanding reasoning and long-running agent work. Claude Opus 5.5 is for long-running coding and knowledge work. Claude Sonnet 5.5 balances speed and intelligence. Claude Haiku 5.5 is the fastest, built for high-volume tasks.

Per the Models overview page, all four take text and image input, reply in text, handle many languages, and have a 1 million token context window. The Claude Haiku 5.5 announcement calls it the cheapest and fastest small model Anthropic has released.

In the plan comparison on the pricing page, Free uses Sonnet and Haiku. Pro and above add Opus. On Pro, Fable runs on usage credits billed at API rates, while Max includes Fable at 50% of its weekly limits. The per-million-token prices in the screenshot are API prices for developers, not chat plan prices.

What can Claude AI do beyond chat?

According to the Models overview page, current models are strong at reasoning, coding, multilingual tasks, long documents and reading images. On the product overview page, Claude answers quick questions, takes on long tasks that keep running after you close your laptop, runs tasks in parallel, and runs tasks on a schedule.

On Sep 16, 2026, the Claude blog announced that Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude. You no longer pick where a task goes, because Claude works out what the task needs. The change is rolling out to Pro and Max first, with Team and Free to follow.

On Oct 8, 2026, the Dashboards and Motion article said Claude Docs, Slides and Design are out of beta and on every plan, including Free. The Sep 16 post says you can ask for a deck, edit it directly, and download it as PowerPoint or PDF. Claude Dashboards is in beta on paid plans.

Claude also links to your apps through Connectors and learns your own workflows through Skills. Skills and Claude Code have their own guides in the news section, including what a Claude Skill is and what your computer needs to run one.

Claude works in supported regions, and the interface has 11 languages

The Anthropic Supported Regions Policy, read on Oct 12, 2026, lists the countries where Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork and the API are offered. Vietnam is on the list. The page also says use while physically located in an unsupported region is not allowed, so check the list before you sign up.

The Pro plan help article says anyone in a supported location can use the free version by going to claude.ai and signing up with an email address. To upgrade, check your regional price at claude.ai/upgrade or in your phone's app store.

The language settings article lists 11 interface languages, such as English, French, Japanese, Korean and Indonesian. Even if your language is not on the list, you can still chat in it, because Claude replies in the language you use.

Which Claude plan fits you

Choose Free if you ask questions, write, or summarize documents a few times a day. Choose Pro if you need Opus, Research, Claude Code, or keep hitting the Free limits. Choose Max if you work with Claude most of the day. Choose Team if your group needs central admin and SSO sign-in.

Plan names and prices were read on Oct 12, 2026, and Anthropic can change them at any time, so open the Claude pricing page again before you pay. What do you need Claude for most: writing, coding, or working with documents?

Related guides: Claude Skills, MCP and AI agents, What Is a Claude Skill? How to Install and Use One.

Sources, accessed Oct 12, 2026, pricing and Enterprise seats rechecked Oct 29, 2026:

• Claude: Pricing
• Claude Help Center: What is the Pro plan?
• Claude Help Center: What is the Max plan?
• Claude Help Center: How to use Claude in your preferred language
• Claude: Download Claude
• Claude: Product overview
• Claude Blog: Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude
• Claude: Build live dashboards and animate explainers with Claude
• Anthropic: Models overview
• Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5
• Anthropic: Supported Regions Policy

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