Short answer
Choose Max if you’re buying Claude for yourself and want more personal usage. Choose Team if you’re buying seats for an organization and need centralized administration, billing, or team controls. If you’re building a product that sends model requests programmatically, evaluate the Claude API separately: a Max or Team subscription is not API access, though either plan may include API credits.
As of November 9, 2026, Anthropic describes Max as an individual-consumer plan and Team as a plan for organizations. Max costs $100 per month on the web. Team is priced per seat, with Standard and Premium options. Their usage allowances are described differently, so price alone—or a multiplier alone—doesn’t establish that they provide equivalent capacity. (Max plan)
Claude Max vs Team at a glance
| Claude Max | Claude Team | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it’s for | An individual consumer | An organization provisioning seats; minimum two members |
| US price | $100 per month, monthly billing only | Standard: $25 per seat monthly or $20 per seat per month with annual billing. Premium: $125 monthly or $100 per seat per month with annual billing. |
| Usage information | 5× Pro’s usage over five-hour and weekly limits | Standard: a larger per-session allowance than Pro. Premium: more usage than Standard; a Portuguese-language Help Center version specifies 6.25× Pro per session and confirms a weekly limit across models. The Team weekly allowance is not quantified in that passage. |
| Organization controls | Individual subscription | Centralized access and billing management, SSO, role-based permissions, and organization- and user-level spend controls |
| Claude Code | Included | Included with every Team seat; Premium seats have more usage than Standard seats |
| Monthly API credits | $100 for eligible subscribers who claim them | $20 per Standard seat and $100 per Premium seat, pooled for the organization and capped at $500 per month |
Team’s official overview describes role-based permissioning as customizable access levels and user privileges. The listed prices are US web prices before applicable taxes; regional currency, price, and tax handling can vary. Team’s annual prices are per-seat monthly equivalents, not monthly-billing rates. Max is currently monthly-only. (Team plan overview · Team pricing update · Portuguese-language Team plan overview)
Which one should you choose?
Choose Max for one person who needs more personal capacity
Max is aimed at individual consumers who use Claude frequently. Anthropic lists it at $100 per month and describes its included usage as five times Pro’s usage in both the five-hour and weekly periods. Claude Code is included too. If you’re the only buyer and your main issue is hitting the limits of your individual plan, Max is the more direct fit. (Max plan)
Trade-off: Max does not turn your subscription into a managed workspace for a company. If you need to administer people’s access or centrally manage seats and spending, consider Team instead. (Team plan overview)
Choose Team when the organization needs seats and controls
Team is built for organizations and requires at least two members. It adds centralized access and billing management, identity and access controls such as SSO, role-based permissions, and spend controls. You can mix Standard and Premium seats, assigning Premium to people who need more capacity while keeping others on Standard. Every Team seat includes Claude Code. (Team plan overview)
Trade-off: Team is priced per seat, and annual billing involves an annual commitment. Anthropic describes Standard usage as a larger per-session allowance than Pro and Premium usage as significantly higher than Standard. A Portuguese-language version of its Help Center specifies Premium at 6.25× Pro per session and says a weekly limit applies across models. That supports a session-level comparison, but the cited official passages do not quantify Team’s weekly allowance. So you can compare the stated Premium session allowance with a session-based figure, but shouldn’t assume equivalent weekly capacity between Team and Max. (Team plan overview · Portuguese-language Team plan overview)
Don’t choose between them just by counting “API credits”
Credits can reduce the cost of API experiments or application usage, but they are not extra interactive Claude or Claude Code capacity. Anthropic says Max and Team credits apply to Claude Platform use, including the Claude API; its help documentation says the monthly API credits cannot be used in Claude apps or Claude Code, even for extra usage. (Monthly API credits)
Five-person cost example
Using the listed US prices, before taxes:
- Five individual Max subscriptions: 5 × $100 = $500 per month.
- Five Standard Team seats, monthly billing: 5 × $25 = $125 per month.
- Five Standard Team seats, annual billing: 5 × $20 = $100 per month equivalent, billed annually at $1,200 for the year.
- Five Premium Team seats, monthly billing: 5 × $125 = $625 per month.
- Five Premium Team seats, annual billing: 5 × $100 = $500 per month equivalent, billed annually at $6,000 for the year.
This compares subscription prices, not equal usage capacity. Team’s Standard and Premium allowances are described differently from Max’s limits, and a Team plan’s organizational controls are part of what its seats provide. Team API credits are pooled across the organization and capped at $500 per month; Max’s $100 credit is tied to an eligible subscriber’s linked Console organization. (Team billing · Monthly API credits)
If you’re building a production product, assess the API separately
Claude subscriptions give people access to Claude in the web, desktop, and mobile apps. The Claude Console is the developer platform for API access and applications. Anthropic says API usage is billed separately from a paid Claude subscription. That makes the decision straightforward at a high level: use a subscription to provide people with Claude; evaluate the API for programmatic requests from your own product. You may use both for different needs. (Why is API usage billed separately?)
Max and Team include monthly credits that can be applied to the Claude API, but claiming them has conditions: the eligible plan must be active, new subscribers must have been on it for seven days, and the credit must be linked to a Claude Console organization. Team credits are pooled and capped at $500 per month. Treat the credits as a limited offset—not proof that a subscription covers your production API bill. Confirm current API rates, model availability, applicable limits, and credit terms for your use case before estimating ongoing costs. (Monthly API credits)
This comparison does not prescribe an API implementation. The plan pages and help articles cited here do not establish the endpoint, model choice, authentication setup, or request and response design for a particular production application.
Bottom line
- Solo user, more personal Claude usage: Max is the individual plan; it costs $100 per month on the web and is monthly-only.
- Organization buying for multiple people: Team is the organizational plan. Choose Standard or Premium seats according to each person’s needs, and account for the billing commitment and admin features.
- Product making programmatic model calls: Assess the Claude API separately from either subscription. Count any eligible plan credits only as a limited API offset, not as interactive usage or an assumed full production budget.
Prices, availability, and plan details can vary by region and change. Check the price and terms shown for your billing location before purchase.
Sources
What is the Max plan? | Claude Help Center
What is the Team plan? | Claude Help Center
O que é o plano Team? | Anthropic Help Center
Updates to Claude Team | Claude by Anthropic
Monthly API credits for Max, Ultra, and Team plans | Claude Help Center
How is my Team plan bill calculated? | Claude Help Center
Why is Claude API usage billed separately from my paid Claude plan? | Claude Help Center