Anthropic's Claude models — Opus, Sonnet and Haiku — are known for strong reasoning, long context and reliable instruction-following. Here's what the API costs and how to start.
| Model | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4 | $15.00 | $75.00 | Hardest reasoning, top quality |
| Claude Sonnet 4 | $3.00 | $15.00 | Balanced workhorse |
| Claude Haiku 3.5 cheapest | $0.80 | $4.00 | High volume, fast tasks |
Anthropic has no permanent free API tier. New accounts typically get a small amount of free credit in the Console to test with; after that it's pay-as-you-go. Haiku is cheap enough that prototyping costs very little. If you specifically want an ongoing free quota, Google Gemini is the better choice.
1. Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account.
2. Open Billing and add a payment method / buy credits.
3. Go to API Keys → Create Key, name it, and copy it once (it won't be shown again).
4. Set a spend limit in Billing to avoid surprises.
Test it:
Plug your token usage into the AI API Cost Calculator — it compares Claude against GPT and Gemini and shows the cheapest model for your exact workload.
Within Claude, Haiku is far cheaper than Sonnet or Opus. Across providers, GPT-4o mini and Gemini Flash compete in the same low-cost tier; DeepSeek-V3 is cheaper still.
Per million tokens: Haiku 3.5 ≈ $0.80 in / $4 out, Sonnet 4 ≈ $3 / $15, Opus 4 ≈ $15 / $75. Output costs more than input.
Sign up at console.anthropic.com, add credit under Billing, open API Keys, click Create Key, copy it once, and set a spend limit.
Yes — use Haiku where quality allows, enable prompt caching for repeated context, and use batch processing for non-urgent jobs (often ~50% cheaper).
Not affiliated with Anthropic. Prices are reference estimates — always verify on the official pricing page.