Claude Max Subscription vs API Usage

[hydrohelix]

I read all the documentation for 5.0 and one of the things that was never mentioned were Claude Max subscriptions. Rather, there are documents pointing to the API usage and costs.

I am assuming this is because of Anthropic's stance on 3rd party harnesses. Is this correct?

Are there instances where parts of PAI can use Claude Code with the built-in max authentication and not require an API key? Such as "claude -p" commands?

Thanks!

[jdrolls]

I use it with the Claude Max subscription. Given that it's an add-on to claude code, at least right now, I don't think there are any issues. With V5 also having telegram integration, and it turning more into a "Life OS" I don't know if we are looking at a change to how it is perceived by Anthropic, I've used Max on it for some time and have never had any issues. It's a little different than services that just use Anthropic's Auth but aren't actually using Claude Code.

The AI scene seems to change every week though so this may be completely wrong or outdated in a month.

[GuillaumePEL]

Hello,

My question might seem silly, but I still haven't found the answer...
Is Claude MAX required? Would a free account be enough? Or do I need a PRO subscription?
Is API billing supported?

[Drizzt321]

I don't see why API billing wouldn't work, since that's built into Claude Code as a base capability. You'd run out of usage very fast on a free account, and Pro might be limiting depending on the model (sonnet vs opus) and your actual use of the system.

So in short, I'd recommend at least the Pro ($20/mo) plan, but you can probably use the Free just to get a tiny bit of experience and see if things might work for you. Personally I'm on Max, and if you're a heavy user I'd recommend that. But it's not necessarily a hard requirement.

[stephtara]

I started out with PRO but very quickly it became too limiting. I do think that if the system is running smoothly and the person using it is not a heavy user, it's possible to make do with PRO (it's my hope). But for me, specially when I moved to v5.0 and the amount of issues I bumped into grew (leading me to a lot of "fixing the system") it was just too frustrating on PRO.

[stephtara]

@GuillaumePEL you need at least PRO to have Claude Code if I'm not mistaken.

[yapierre]

I am using using Max ($100) for first month, because it need a lot at the beginning to setup PAI, Projects and to understand us (TELOS), then only use $20/month after that

[clmitchell808]

I was having persistent problems with Morgan, my personal assistant, failing to follow instructions- or simply forgetting things. I was on the Max subscription and considered moving to the API billing. In the end, I decided to convert the PAI system from Claude Code to Open Code using DeepSeek V4 Pro. I could not be happier. I have asked Morgan to provide an OpenCode translation of the Claude Code PAI 5.0 installation and will upload it as soon as Morgan has it available.

[AdAstra1642]

Even more relevant now that Anthropic is removing Agent SDK and claude -p, off of the subscription. its like 40x less usage if you were maxing out the plan https://support.claude.com/en/articles/15036540-use-the-claude-agent-sdk-with-your-claude-plan

[Raazgar]

@clmitchell808 I was having the same problem with MAIA forgetting things across sessions. Turns out it was likely this: #1192 (she fixed it but still need to test in the next few days if its really gone).