The Claude Code logo. Image: Anthropic
Claude Code cloud sessions don’t cost anything on top of your Claude plan: there’s no charge for the cloud computer, and the work uses the same usage limits as Claude Code on your laptop and Claude chat, according to Anthropic’s documentation. So cloud and local cost the same per task. What you do need to watch are the five-hour and weekly limits, a daily cap on routines, and pay-as-you-go usage credits if you switch them on. Here’s what Claude Code in the cloud costs and how it works.
How much do Claude Code cloud sessions cost?
Nothing extra. Cloud sessions are included with Claude’s paid plans, and Anthropic says “there is no separate compute charge for the cloud VM.” You pay for your plan, and cloud work draws on the usage that comes with it. That makes the price of Claude Code on the web the same as the price of Claude Code itself:
| Plan | Price | Cloud sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | No (no Claude Code) |
| Pro | $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually | Yes |
| Max | From $100 a month (5x or 20x Pro’s usage) | Yes |
| Team | Standard seat $25 a month ($20 billed annually); Premium seat $125 ($100 billed annually) | Yes |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Premium or Chat + Claude Code seats only |
| API key, Bedrock, Google Cloud, Foundry | Pay per token | No |
Prices in US dollars before tax, from claude.com/pricing, so what you pay in the UK, India, Australia or elsewhere will include local tax. Availability from Anthropic’s feature availability page.
If you use Claude Code with an Anthropic Console API key or through a cloud provider such as Amazon Bedrock, cloud sessions aren’t available at all. Anthropic suggests GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD instead, where you pay per token as usual.
Does Claude Code in the cloud use more tokens than running locally?
No. A task uses the same amount of your allowance whether Claude does it on your laptop or in the cloud, because what you’re spending is the AI model’s work, not the computer’s. Anthropic says cloud sessions “share rate limits with all other Claude and Claude Code usage within your account.”
Where the cloud can cost you more is in how you use it. It’s easy to run several cloud sessions at once, and Anthropic warns that “running multiple tasks in parallel consumes more rate limits proportionately.” Three sessions side by side use your allowance about three times as fast.
| Local | Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Uses your plan’s limits | Yes | Yes, the same amount per task |
| Charge for the computer | Your own hardware | None |
| Keeps going when your laptop is closed | No | Yes |
| Free $100 or $250 credit | No | Yes, until October 7 |
| Scheduled tasks | No daily cap | Routines: daily cap |
| Works with an API key or Bedrock | Yes | No |
The usual Claude limits apply in both places: a five-hour session limit on a rolling window, and a weekly limit above it. On Team and Enterprise, each seat gets its own allowance on the same windows, shared with Claude chat and Cowork, and Premium seats get more. To see where you stand, check Settings › Usage on claude.ai. The /usage command in Claude Code shows your plan’s usage bars too, but its breakdown of what used them only counts sessions on that computer, so it won’t list your cloud work.
Is there a charge for the Claude Code cloud environment?
No. A cloud environment is the saved set-up your sessions run in: which websites they can reach, settings such as environment variables, and a setup script that installs your tools. Creating and editing environments is free, and so is the computer each session runs on. Anthropic says on its cloud environments page that each session gets a fresh virtual machine running Ubuntu 24.04 with 4 virtual CPUs, 16 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk.
A setup script that finishes in about five minutes is saved as a snapshot, so later sessions start with your tools already installed. None of that uses your Claude limits: only the model’s work does.
How does a Claude Code cloud session work?
Normally Claude Code runs on your own computer, so it stops when your laptop sleeps. A cloud session runs on a computer Anthropic manages instead. You give Claude a task, it works on its own copy of your code, and you can close the laptop and check in later from anywhere.
You can start one from:
- The web: claude.ai/code (Claude Code on the web)
- Your phone: the Code tab in the Claude app
- The desktop app: choose Cloud instead of Local
- The terminal:
claude --cloud "your task" - A routine: a scheduled or triggered run, which starts a cloud session on its own
Your repository is cloned from GitHub, so you need a GitHub account connected, and Claude works on a branch you can review and turn into a pull request. If a session sits unused for a while, Anthropic shuts its computer down. Reopen it and you get a fresh machine with the conversation restored, though anything that was running in the background is lost.
Cloud sessions came out of research preview on September 23, when Anthropic also gave subscribers up to $250 in credit to try them.
Claude Code routines: limits and pricing
Routines are Claude Code tasks that run by themselves: on a schedule (hourly, nightly or weekly), when you call a web address, or when something happens on GitHub, such as a new pull request. Each run is a full cloud session, and routines “draw down subscription usage the same way interactive sessions do,” Anthropic’s routines documentation says.
There’s no extra price for routines, but there is a cap on how many can start each day, per account rather than per routine. When Anthropic launched routines, it set the Claude Code routines limits at:
- Pro: 5 runs a day
- Max: 15 runs a day
- Team and Enterprise: 25 runs a day
Routines are still a research preview, so those numbers can change. Your current allowance and how much you’ve used are shown at claude.ai/code/routines. One-off runs, such as “do this tomorrow at 9am,” don’t count towards the cap, though they still use your plan’s usage.
Do the maths before you schedule anything frequent. An hourly routine starts 24 runs a day, more than any plan’s daily cap. Once you hit the cap, or your plan’s usage limit, extra runs are refused until the limit resets, unless you’ve turned on usage credits. Then they carry on, and you pay for them.
Claude Code on the web free credits: the $100 and $250 offer
To mark cloud sessions leaving research preview, Anthropic is giving existing Pro subscribers $100 and Max subscribers $250 to spend on cloud sessions. The credit sits outside your normal usage limits, so it’s genuinely extra, and it’s the one way cloud work can cost you less than local work right now.
You claim it by running /claim-credit in Claude Code by 11:59pm Pacific time on October 7 (06:59 UTC on October 8), and it expires on November 4. Once it’s used up or expires, cloud sessions go back to drawing on your plan. Our guide covers how to claim the Claude Code cloud credit.
What happens when you hit your limit in a cloud session?
You have three options:
- Wait. The five-hour limit resets on its own. Claude Code now tries to wrap up tidily when you hit it rather than stopping mid-edit.
- Use your one-time reset. Pro, Max and Team subscribers have a “Reset for free” button under Settings › Usage, which expires on October 22.
- Pay as you go. Turn on usage credits (previously called extra usage) and keep working at standard API rates.
Usage credits are the only way the cloud costs more than your subscription. According to Claude’s help centre, you switch them on under Settings › Usage, add a payment method and prepay a balance. You can set a monthly spending cap or choose unlimited, and turn on auto-reload. They’re charged separately from your subscription and show up as extra charges on your bill, and you’ll get a notice when you reach your limit confirming you’re carrying on with usage credits.
Two catches: if you subscribed through the iPhone or Android app, you can only turn usage credits on from Claude on the web. And in some places, including Japan, credits bought from September 10, 2026 expire after six months. Elsewhere, they generally don’t expire.
What else in Claude Code’s cloud costs extra?
- Ultrareview: the deep, multi-agent code review (
/code-review ultra) runs in the cloud and is billed as usage credits, not plan usage. Pro and Max get three free runs, once per account. After that, a review typically costs $5 to $25 depending on the size of the change, according to Anthropic. Team and Enterprise get no free runs, and you see the estimated cost before each one starts. - Projects: Claude Code’s Projects, in beta on Pro and Max, let Claude run several cloud sessions (“threads”) at once on one piece of work. They draw on the same limits “and use them faster,” Anthropic says, and a new project runs every thread on Opus at high effort by default, which uses your plan fastest. A thread that hits your limit waits and carries on when it resets, eating into your next window without asking.
- Anything past your limits: with usage credits on, work beyond your plan is billed at API rates, so a runaway session or routine can cost real money. Set a monthly cap.
How do you move a Claude Code session to the cloud, or resume one?
- Send a local session to the cloud: in the Claude desktop app, use the Continue in menu. The terminal can’t move an existing session, but
claude --cloud "task"starts a new cloud session for your repository. It clones what’s on GitHub, not your computer, so push your changes first. - Resume a cloud session: open it from claude.ai/code or the Claude app. If it has gone idle, a fresh machine starts with the conversation restored.
- Bring a cloud session back to your computer: run
claude --teleportin a copy of the same repository and pick the session, or use/teleportinside Claude Code.
Moving between the two doesn’t change what you pay: either way, the work uses the same plan limits.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Claude Code cloud sessions cost?
Nothing on top of your Claude plan. Cloud sessions are included with Pro ($20 a month), Max (from $100 a month) and Team, and Anthropic doesn’t charge for the cloud computer. They use the same usage limits as the rest of your Claude and Claude Code use.
Is Claude Code on the web free?
No. Claude Code isn’t included in Claude’s free plan, so you need Pro, Max, Team or an eligible Enterprise seat. Pro and Max subscribers can claim a one-time credit of $100 or $250 for cloud sessions until October 7, 2026.
Does Claude Code in the cloud use more tokens than running it locally?
No. The same task uses the same usage whether it runs on your computer or in the cloud. The cloud only uses your limits faster if you run more at once, such as several sessions in parallel, routines or Projects.
Is there a charge for the Claude Code cloud environment?
No. Anthropic says there is no separate compute charge for the cloud virtual machine. Setting up an environment, with its network access, variables and setup script, doesn’t cost anything extra either.
How many Claude Code routines can I run a day?
At launch, Anthropic set the limits at 5 routine runs a day on Pro, 15 on Max and 25 on Team and Enterprise, per account. One-off scheduled runs don’t count. Your current allowance is shown at claude.ai/code/routines.
How much does Claude Code cost per month?
Claude Code comes with Claude Pro at $20 a month ($17 a month billed annually) and Max from $100 a month. Team seats cost $25 a month for Standard and $125 for Premium ($20 and $100 billed annually). Prices are in US dollars before tax, so what you pay in the UK, India, Australia or elsewhere will include local tax.
Can I move a local Claude Code session to the cloud?
In the Claude desktop app, yes: the Continue in menu can send a local session to the cloud. From the terminal you can’t move an existing session, but claude --cloud starts a new cloud session for your repository. To bring a cloud session back to your computer, use claude --teleport.
Can I use Claude Code cloud sessions with an API key?
No. Cloud sessions need a claude.ai subscription. With an Anthropic Console API key, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry, Anthropic suggests GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD instead.
Sources: Anthropic’s Claude Code documentation (cloud sessions, cloud environments, routines, costs, ultrareview, Projects, feature availability), Anthropic’s routines announcement, Claude help centre, Claude pricing.
