Free, Pro or Max?
Work it out for yourself.
You can find the prices anywhere. What nobody tells you: which plan pays off in your business. Because that depends not on the monthly price, but on what the tool replaces for you.
Four questions — and you get a recommendation plus the counter-calculation against your own hourly rate.
The Claude plans at a glance
All prices are net prices, as of August 2026. In Germany 19% VAT is added at checkout; as a business owner you reclaim the input tax — net is what counts for you.
| Plan | Net per month | For what |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 € | For getting to know it, with a tight usage limit |
| Pro | €15 on the yearly plan around €18 monthly | The realistic business entry point |
| Max | from €90 | Up to 20× the Pro usage |
| Team | €18 per seat | For 2 to 150 people |
Claude Code is included in every plan — even the free one. What differs is not the price but how much you can work with it before the limit kicks in.
How this calculator calculates
By the same logic I use in consulting — the counter-calculation:
- Your hourly rate times the hours you hand over per week, times 4.33 weeks, gives the monthly value of the work saved.
- Against that stands the plan price.
- The break-even shows how many minutes per month you need to save for the plan to carry itself.
The recommendation itself hinges not on money but on how you work: how often you work, how extensive your tasks are and whether you regularly hit usage limits. Money only decides once the way of working is clear.
The plan is one question. The other is what you do with it afterwards. That is exactly what we exchange in my free community “KI — aber richtig” — the templates and workflows from my videos live there too. And if you want to do it accompanied rather than alone: the AI Business Community has monthly live calls, workshops and the MACHZEIT! challenge for exactly that.
Frequently asked questions
Which Claude plan is right for the self-employed?
For most solopreneurs, Pro at €15 net per month is the realistic entry point. Free is enough for trying things out but quickly hits its limits in daily work. Max only pays off once Claude works for you for hours every day.
Is Max worth it compared to Pro?
Max mostly buys volume: five to twenty times the usage of Pro, with largely the same features. So the question is not whether Max is better, but whether you are regularly being slowed down. If not, you are paying for capacity that goes unused.
Is Claude Code included in the price?
Yes, in every plan, even the free one. It is not a separate subscription. Only the usage quota differs.
Yearly plan or pay monthly?
Anthropic quotes 17% savings for the yearly plan. My recommendation: pay monthly for the first months. Only once you notice you genuinely use the tool daily is the commitment worth it.
How accurate is this recommendation?
It is an orientation, not an expert report. The calculator knows your way of working from just four answers. And AI vendors change prices and limits regularly — when in doubt, check the current numbers directly with the vendor.
The detailed version with all plan tiers, the 5-hour limit and the API prices is in What does Claude AI cost?
The plan is the smallest decision. I have seen enough business owners paying for the most expensive plan and still just collecting prompts. If you want to genuinely put Claude to work in your business — not as another tool, but as a team member — we do that together.
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