TL;DR
If you subscribe to Claude on Max or Team, you can now get API credits every month. This is not a one-time offer: the credits are refilled every billing cycle.
- Amount: $100 a month on Max 5x, $200 a month on Max 20x. On Team, it's $20 per Standard seat and $100 per Premium seat, capped at $500 a month for the whole organization. Free, Pro, and Enterprise are not included
- Requirements: An active Max or Team subscription that you've been on for at least 7 days. You don't need to add a payment method
- What it covers: The Claude API (Messages API and Batches API), the Console Playground, Managed Agents, and the Agent SDK
- What it doesn't cover: Interactive Claude Code (in the terminal, IDE, desktop app, or web), Extra usage on your plan, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry
- How to claim: On Max, go to claude.ai Settings → Billing → "API credits" and link one Claude Console organization. You don't need to be a company: if you set up the Console as an individual, you link that Console account. You get nothing until you link one. You can't change the linked organization yourself, so decide which organization to use first
- Rollover: None. Unused credits don't carry over to the next month
I linked an organization on my Max (20x) account and received $200. I didn't need to add a card.
Since nothing rolls over, any month you put off claiming is simply lost. Once you've decided which organization to use, I recommend linking it early.
The details (about a 6-minute read)
What changed
Anthropic has added monthly API credits to the Max and Team plans. Its Help Center article "Monthly API credits for Max and Team plans" lays out the amounts and conditions.
Until now, the monthly plan you use for claude.ai chat and Claude Code was a completely separate contract from pay-as-you-go Claude API billing. Even on Max, if you called the Claude API from your own program, you paid for it separately in the Claude Console.
These credits are a way for money from your monthly plan to flow to the API side every month. They're an allowance separate from your plan's usage limits, so they don't reduce how much you can use chat or Claude Code.
It showed up on my Max (20x) account too
When I opened the claude.ai home screen, a "Free API credits" notice appeared in the bottom right. It said "Your plan now includes monthly API credits." and had a Claim credits button.
I didn't use that button. I went through the Billing page in Settings instead. Click your name in the bottom left of claude.ai, open Settings, and choose Billing in the left menu. A new "API credits" section had appeared under the plan.
It says "Your Max 20x plan includes $200 USD in API credits each month," and below that, "You're not a member of any API organizations yet." I hadn't been using the Claude Console, so I had no organization. In that case, you start from Create organization on the right.
How to claim
Clicking "Create organization" opens the Claude Console (the admin screen for using the API) in a new tab. The Console has no language setting of its own; it followed claude.ai's display language.
First, you choose whether you'll use the API as an individual or as an organization.
I use it for my company, so I chose Organization. When you pick Organization, a note says "If you're on your own, start with an individual account. You can convert it to an organization anytime." If you're unsure, you can start as an individual and convert later.
Next, you enter the organization name, the type of entity, and where the organization is located.
One thing to watch for if you use claude.ai in another language: the location list is in English even when the rest of the screen is translated. On the Japanese screen, typing the Japanese name for Japan finds nothing; you have to search for "Japan."
Then you're asked how you'll use the API.
- Will the Claude API be used in countries outside your own?: Choosing "Yes" adds a field to pick the countries
- Internal customers, external customers, or both?
- What are you planning to use the Claude API for?: A free-text field. The suggestion buttons below it (Consulting, Copywriting, Education, and more) insert English words into the field, even on the Japanese screen
Finally, two review questions appear.
Answer whether Claude will be used to give consumers legal, medical, or financial advice, and whether you'll use the API in products or services for users under 18, then click Create account.
Once the organization exists, you go straight to the screen for claiming the credits.
Click Link and claim $200. As the small print below says, linking your organization and redeeming the credits subjects you to the Supplemental Credit Terms.
Then a screen confirms the credits were added.
It encourages you to add a card here, but you don't have to. As it says, "Nothing is charged today." Click Continue without a card and you can use the $200 without paying anything.
This screen also spells out what the credits cover in one sentence: "Credits cover the Claude API, Claude Managed Agents, the Claude Agent SDK, and the Playground." The Japanese version of the same screen leaves that sentence out.
The screens after claiming
The Console dashboard showed $200.00 in organization credits.
The "$500 tier limit" in the "Spend this month" card is about your API usage tier. It's a different number from these credits.
The left menu of the dashboard listed Playground, Files, Skills, Batches, and Managed Agents (Quickstart, Agents, Sessions, Deployments, Environments, and more). In the middle of the page, the available models were Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, and Haiku 5.5. The credits can be used for the API features listed here.
Create an API key from Get API key in the top right, and you can call the API from your own programs. This article doesn't go beyond creating a key.
Back on the claude.ai Billing page, the "API credits" section had changed.
It shows the linked organization with a "Linked" badge, a monthly credit of $200, and the date of the next credit.
I noticed one thing here. My subscription renews on October 28, but the next credit was shown as October 30. The day credits are refilled doesn't seem to always match your plan's renewal date. If you plan to use up the credits by the end of each cycle, go by this "Next credit" date.
After linking, an "API keys" entry also appeared in the claude.ai Settings menu. It takes you to the API keys page in the Console.
Three separate pools
With these credits, the money you pay for Claude now falls into at least three pools. They're easy to mix up, so here's how they differ.
- Your plan's usage allowance: Used by claude.ai chat and everyday Claude Code. It has per-session and weekly limits and is included in your monthly fee
- Monthly API credits (the new one): Added to your Console organization every month. Used by the Claude API, the Playground, Managed Agents, and the Agent SDK. No rollover
- Purchased API credits: Credits you buy yourself in the Console. These are used after your monthly API credits run out
The $250 cloud session credit I covered in the previous article in this series is something else: a one-time credit. It shows up under Usage in claude.ai Settings and only covers running Claude Code in the cloud. It's claimed in a different place and covers different things from these monthly API credits.
What it covers and what it doesn't
Here's the scope according to the Help Center:
- Covered: The Claude API (Messages API and Batches API), the Console Playground, Managed Agents, and the Agent SDK
- Not covered: Interactive Claude Code (in the terminal, IDE, desktop app, or web), runs started by the Claude Code GitHub Action, Extra usage on your plan, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry
Everyday Claude Code use keeps coming out of your plan's allowance as before. A simple way to think about it: these credits are for calls to the Claude API from programs you write yourself or agents you build with the Agent SDK.
According to the Help Center FAQ, running claude -p or the Agent SDK yourself with an API key from the linked organization is covered. However, runs started by the Claude Code GitHub Action, an IDE extension, or the Claude desktop app count as Claude Code usage and aren't covered, even with -p.
The Help Center also says:
- Used before purchased credits: If your organization already has purchased API credits, the monthly credits are used up first
- When they run out: If the organization has no purchased credits and no auto-reload, API requests stop until the next monthly credits arrive. Nothing is added to your plan's bill. To keep going, buy credits or turn on auto-reload. Organizations invoiced through Anthropic sales are billed for usage beyond the credits as usual
- Only one organization can be linked: A plan can link to only one Console organization, and an organization can receive credits from only one plan. You can't change the linked organization yourself; you have to contact support. The Help Center also advises choosing the organization you use for development
- Everyone in the organization shares the balance: Anyone with an API key for the linked organization draws from the same credits. If you link a company organization, check who holds keys
- Linking requires an organization role: On the Console side, you need the Owner, Admin, or Billing role in that organization
- When your plan changes: Upgrading from Max 5x to 20x adds the difference right away, prorated. If you downgrade to a plan that isn't eligible, such as Free or Pro, or cancel or get a refund, new credits stop (downgrading between eligible plans, like Max 20x to 5x, doesn't count). Even then, credits already added stay usable until they expire. Moving from Max to Team unlinks the organization
How to get the most out of it
Since nothing rolls over, the smart approach is to plan on using the credits for something every month. Here are uses that are easy to think about, within what I've confirmed.
- API costs for tools you built: If the tool runs on an API key from the linked organization, you no longer pay out of pocket for the portion covered by the monthly credits ($200 on Max 20x)
- Bulk processing with the Batches API: Send large volumes of non-urgent work in batches
- Trying the Agent SDK or Managed Agents: If you've been curious but held back because of pay-as-you-go costs, this is a reason to try them
- Trying prompts in the Playground: Before writing code, you can tune prompts in the Console Playground while checking the responses
How much you can do with $200 depends heavily on the model and on the amount of input and output. I've only just started using it, so I can't say for sure. I'll write up what I learn in a follow-up article.
Things to watch for
- No link, no credits: Even though your plan includes them, you don't get them until you link an organization
- Unused credits disappear: There's no rollover. Months you missed before linking don't come back
- Free, Pro, and Enterprise aren't eligible: The Help Center lists Max and Team (discounted Team plans are eligible too)
- You can't change the linked organization yourself: You have to contact support. Decide which organization to use first so you don't link a throwaway test organization
- There's a 7-day requirement: You need to have been on an eligible plan for at least 7 days
- You don't need to add a card: You don't need one just to claim the credits. What happens after they run out depends on the organization's payment setup, not on whether a card is registered. Organizations with no purchased credits and no auto-reload stop making API requests until the next credits arrive. Organizations with auto-reload turned on, or that are invoiced through Anthropic sales, are charged for usage after the credits run out
- The refill date may differ from your renewal date: In my case, the plan renews on October 28 and the next credit is October 30
- Team uses a different entry point and different people can claim: According to the Help Center, on Team the Primary Owner or an Owner links the organization from Organization settings → Billing. I used a Max plan, so I haven't checked the Team screens in this article
Summary
- Claude Max and Team plans now include monthly API credits: $200 a month on Max 20x, $100 a month on Max 5x
- To claim them, link one Claude Console organization from claude.ai Settings → Billing → "API credits"
- They cover the Claude API, the Playground, Managed Agents, and the Agent SDK, but not interactive Claude Code
- Since nothing rolls over, link an organization first, then put the credits toward work that uses the API every month
References: Anthropic Help Center, "Monthly API credits for Max and Team plans" (support.claude.com/en/articles/17154008)
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