Free Claude API: what actually exists

Every real way to call Claude for free or close to it

Anthropic lists no free API tier on its pricing page, only paid per-token rates. The table below breaks down the few actual ways to get test credits, use cloud credits, or tap a subscription you're already paying for.

Anthropic's free test credits

New users get a small amount of free credits to test the API, though Anthropic doesn't publish the exact dollar amount. Enterprises can contact sales for an extended trial. Once the test credits run out, you prepay for usage in USD before your Claude API key can make calls unless monthly API credits from a Max or Team plan or an invoicing arrangement cover you, and purchased credits expire one year after purchase.

When you do pay out of pocket, the cheapest current model is Claude Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens for prompts up to 100,000 tokens. At those Claude API pricing rates, $1 buys 10 million input tokens or 2 million output tokens.

Cloud credits: Google Cloud and AWS

• Google Cloud gives new users a $300 trial credit good for 90 days, but Google's documentation states that it can't pay for generative AI partner models offered as a managed API. That's how Claude models are offered on Google Cloud, and Free Trial accounts can't use Google Cloud Marketplace either.
• On April 2, 2024, AWS announced that AWS Activate credits from its startup program are accepted for third-party models on Amazon Bedrock, which includes Anthropic's Claude models. You'll need to meet AWS Activate's own eligibility rules to get those credits.

API credits included with Claude Max

• Claude Max includes monthly API credits: you get $100 a month on the $100 Max 5x plan and $200 a month on the $200 Max 20x plan, while Team Standard seats include $20 a month and Premium seats include $100 a month, pooled up to $500 a month.
• You can claim these credits 7 days after subscribing by going to Settings > Billing > API credits and linking a Claude Console organization.
• They cover the Claude API, Claude Managed Agents, the Agent SDK, and the Console playground.
• Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle without rolling over, and they don't pay for Claude Code, extra usage in the Claude apps, or Claude on AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Foundry.

Free, Pro, and Enterprise plans get no API credits.

A $0 Plan2API key on a plan you already pay for

For Claude models, Plan2API needs a paid Claude Pro or Max subscription, so it's only free on top of a plan you already pay for. If you already have one, the Plan2API Free plan costs $0 with no card required and turns your Claude subscription into an API using the OpenAI Chat Completions format at POST /v1/chat/completions (it doesn't offer Anthropic's /v1/messages endpoint).

The Free plan connects 1 subscription, gives you 2 p2a_ API keys, and includes 50 chat requests a day that reset at 00:00 UTC, running at 1 request per second with bursts up to 20 and 4 requests at once. If you send a 51st request in a day, the API returns HTTP 429 with the error code daily_requests, and your Claude plan's own usage limits still apply on top of that (returning subscription_quota_exhausted if your connected account runs out of quota). You can sign up with a Google account and link your Claude login at plan2api.com/connect.

curl https://api.plan2api.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PLAN2API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude/claude-sonnet-5",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Write a haiku about free tiers."}]
  }'

Which option fits you

• If you're just testing the API, use Anthropic's starter test credits in the Console.
• If you're at a startup with funding, check whether you qualify for AWS Activate credits on Amazon Bedrock.
• If you're already paying for Claude Max, link your Console organization after 7 days and claim your $100 or $200 in monthly API credits.
• If you're already paying for Claude Pro or Max and want to call it from your own scripts, use the $0 Plan2API Free plan.

If you aren't locked into Anthropic's models, see our guide to free AI APIs from other providers.