How much does the Claude API cost? You pay per token, separately for input (what you send to the model) and output (what the model writes back), with no subscription or monthly fee. At Kunavo, Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $0,70 per million input tokens and $3,50 per million output tokens, Claude Sonnet 5, our recommendation for programming and agents, $1,40 / $7,00, and the most powerful model, Claude Fable 5.1, $7,00 / $35,00. That is 30% below Anthropic's list price. A typical agent step with 25.000 tokens in and 1.200 tokens out costs approximately $0,0434 on Sonnet 5. You can top up in euros: at checkout, iDEAL (the Netherlands) and Bancontact (Belgium) are offered, starting at $10. Prices checked on October 3, 2026.
Kunavo is een API-gateway: je roept Claude aan via de Anthropic Messages API of het OpenAI-compatibele endpoint, met één key and een vooraf betaald tegoed. De Kunavo-prijzen op deze pagina komen rechtstreeks uit de modelcatalogus, dus wat hier staat, is wat de API afrekent. De lijstprijzen van Anthropic komen uit Anthropic's pricing documentation en claude.com/pricing, geraadpleegd op October 3, 2026.
Subscription or API: two separate prices
People searching for Claude price often mean the subscription on claude.ai. That is a different product with its own price from the API:
| What you use | What it costs | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Claude subscription on claude.ai (Pro, Max) | Pro $20 per month, or $17 per month with annual billing ($200 upfront); Max from $100 per month; excluding VAT | With Anthropic by card, or through the App Store or Google Play |
| Claude API (your own software, agents, automation) | Per token, no monthly fee | Anthropic: credit or debit card, in dollars. Kunavo: including iDEAL, Bancontact, and card |
| Claude Code (terminal and editor) | No separate price: runs on a subscription or an API key | Follows the route you choose |
Abonnementsprijzen volgens claude.com/pricing (in dollars, exclusief btw) and betaalwijzen volgens Anthropic's billing FAQ, beide geraadpleegd op October 3, 2026. Een opwaardering at Kunavo vult een API-tegoed. Daarmee betaal je geen Claude Pro of Max; die koop je at Anthropic zelf.
Claude API prices by model
Bedragen in US-dollar per miljoen tokens (MTok), eerst invoer, dan uitvoer. De kolom Anthropic is de gepubliceerde lijstprijs; Anthropic rekent zelf alleen in dollars af (Anthropic, October 3, 2026).
| Model | Anthropic (input / output) | Kunavo (input / output) | Discount | Cache read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Fable 5.1 | $10,00 / $50,00 | $7,00 / $35,00 | 30% | 2,5% of input ($0,175) |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $4,00 / $20,00 | $2,80 / $14,00 | 30% | 5% of input ($0,14) |
| Claude Opus 5 | $5,00 / $25,00 | $3,50 / $17,50 | 30% | 10% of input ($0,35) |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | $2,00 / $10,00 | $1,40 / $7,00 | 30% | 10% of input ($0,14) |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1,00 / $5,00 | $0,70 / $3,50 | 30% | 10% of input ($0,07) |
All models and current rates are listed on the pricing page. For every model in the table, output costs 5 times the input price, so a long answer weighs more than a long question.
How much does Claude Sonnet cost?
Anthropic kondigde $2,00 / $10,00 bij de lancering van Sonnet 5 aan als introductieprijs tot and met 31 augustus 2026, and heeft er daarna de standaardprijs van gemaakt: de geplande verhoging naar $3 / $15 per 1 september 2026 gaat niet door (Anthropic, October 3, 2026). Nederlandstalige pagina's die nog $3 / $15 noemen, zijn verouderd. At Kunavo, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $1,40 / $7,00 per million tokens. De vorige generatie, Claude Sonnet 4.6, staat at Anthropic op $3,00 / $15,00 and at Kunavo op $2,10 / $10,50: Sonnet 5 is dus nieuwer én goedkoper. Anthropic toont op claude.com/pricing inmiddels ook Sonnet 5.5 (geraadpleegd op October 3, 2026); dat model biedt Kunavo nog niet aan.
What does Claude Opus cost?
Claude Opus 5.5 is the latest Opus and also the cheapest. Anthropic charges $4,00 / $20,00 for it, compared with $5,00 / $25,00 for Claude Opus 5. At Kunavo, Opus 5.5 costs $2,80 / $14,00 and Opus 5 $3,50 / $17,50; every other Opus version on Kunavo is more expensive than Opus 5.5. A cache read costs only 5% of the input price with Opus 5.5, compared with 10% for most other Claude models. Unsure whether to choose Sonnet or Opus? Sonnet 5 is even cheaper at $1,40 / $7,00; Opus 5.5 is for tasks where Sonnet falls short.
How much does a single request or agent step cost?
An agent (Claude Code, Cline, or your own agent) works in steps. Each step sends the system prompt, history, and fresh file context to the model and receives an operation or explanation in return. As a rough estimate, use 25.000 input tokens and 1.200 output tokens per step. At Kunavo rates, without caching:
| Model | One step | Task of 20 steps |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Fable 5.1 | $0,217 | $4,34 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $0,0868 | $1,74 |
| Claude Opus 5 | $0,109 | $2,17 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | $0,0434 | $0,868 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0,0217 | $0,434 |
These are deliberately generous estimates. You can calculate using your own numbers in the Claude token cost calculator.
Why your bill may be higher than you expect
- A new tokenizer. Volgens Anthropic gebruiken Claude Opus 4.7 and nieuwere modellen, waaronder Opus 5, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5 and Fable, een tokenizer die voor dezelfde tekst ongeveer 30% meer tokens oplevert (Anthropic, October 3, 2026). Een telling die je ooit op Sonnet 4.6 hebt gemaakt, valt op Sonnet 5 dus hoger uit.
- Rules of thumb apply to English. Anthropic rekent grofweg 1 token per 4 tekens of 0,75 woord in het Engels, and zegt erbij dat het aantal per taal and soort inhoud verschilt (Anthropic, October 3, 2026). Meet het daarom één keer met je eigen Nederlandse teksten in plaats van uit te gaan van Engelse voorbeelden.
- Output is 5 times as expensive as input. Set
max_tokensand request concise answers where possible. - The history is included with every step. Lange context zelf kost geen toeslag: Anthropic rekent de volledige context van 1 miljoen tokens at 4.6-modellen and nieuwer tegen het gewone tarief (Anthropic, October 3, 2026), and Kunavo rekent at Claude evenmin een toeslag. Maar omdat elke stap de hele sessie opnieuw meestuurt, wordt een lange sessie per stap steeds duurder. Begin een nieuwe taak met een schone context.
Prompt caching: cache reads cost a fraction of the input price
Stuur je steeds dezelfde lange prompt mee (een systeemprompt, documentatie, context uit je codebase), dan wordt het deel dat uit de cache komt afgerekend als cache-read: 10% of the input price at de meeste Claude-modellen, 2,5% at Claude Fable 5.1 and 5% at Claude Opus 5.5. Het schrijven naar de cache kost at Anthropic 1,25× de invoerprijs at een geldigheid van 5 minuten and 2× at 1 uur (Anthropic, October 3, 2026); Kunavo rekent cache-writes tegen 1,25× de invoerprijs.
In an agent loop, a large part of the input can come from the cache because every step sends the same history again. Suppose that from the second step onward, 20.000 of the 25.000 input tokens are cache hits: a step on Sonnet 5 then costs $0,0182 instead of $0,0434, and on Opus 5.5 $0,0336 instead of $0,0868. How much you save in practice depends on how much of your input actually comes from the cache; the first write to the cache costs 1,25× the input price. How to enable caching is explained in the caching documentation.
Claude Code: subscription or API key
Claude Code has no separate price: het rekent af in API-tokens, of het draait op een Claude-abonnement (Claude Code documentation, October 3, 2026). Je kiest dus tussen een abonnement (Pro $20 per maand, Max vanaf $100 per maand, exclusief btw), waarbij de gebruikslimieten van dat abonnement gelden, and een API-key, waarmee je per token betaalt zonder maandbedrag. Ter vergelijking: over zakelijke installaties gemeten noemt Anthropic gemiddeld ongeveer $13 per ontwikkelaar per actieve dag and $150–250 per ontwikkelaar per maand, met minder dan $30 per actieve dag voor 90% van de gebruikers (Claude Code documentation, October 3, 2026).
At Kunavo, $20 corresponds to approximately 460 agent steps on Sonnet 5 without caching, or about 23 tasks of 20 steps. If your usage has peaks and troughs, paying per token is usually cheaper because a quiet month costs nothing. If you use Claude Code for hours every day, a subscription is often more economical until you hit the limits.
Setting up Claude Code on Kunavo:
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.kunavo.com
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-kn-...
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL=claude-opus-5-5
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5
export ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL=claude-haiku-4-5Op Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise and de Anthropic API gebruikt Claude Code zonder instelling Opus 5.5 als standaardmodel, and op de Anthropic API verwijst de alias sonnet tegenwoordig naar Sonnet 5.5 (Claude Code documentation, October 3, 2026). Kunavo levert Sonnet 5.5 nog niet, dus zonder de regel ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL geven /model sonnet, de uitvoeringsfase van opusplan and subagents met model: sonnet een 404. De regels hierboven zetten het standaardmodel op Sonnet 5 en koppelen de aliassen opus, sonnet en haiku aan modellen die Kunavo levert. Achter opus staat Opus 5.5 (claude-opus-5-5), de goedkoopste Opus; daarvoor heb je Claude Code v2.1.280 of nieuwer nodig (bijwerken met claude update). De volledige uitleg staat at de Claude Code integration.
Paying in euros with iDEAL or Bancontact
Bij Anthropic zelf betaal je de API met een creditcard of debitcard; externe betaaldiensten zoals PayPal accepteert Anthropic niet, and iDEAL and Bancontact worden niet genoemd (Anthropic support, October 3, 2026). Alle betalingen at Anthropic zijn in dollars, and gekochte API-credits vervallen een jaar na aankoop and worden niet terugbetaald (Anthropic support, October 3, 2026).
Bij Kunavo betaal je via Stripe. De prijzen staan in dollars, maar Stripe toont het bedrag aan kopers in Nederland and België in euro. In die wisselkoers zit een omrekenopslag van 2–4%. Reken je in dollars af, dan betaal je die opslag niet, maar gelden de koers and kosten van je eigen bank; iDEAL and Bancontact werken alleen in euro (Stripe, October 3, 2026). Bij het afrekenen in euro worden aangeboden:
- iDEAL voor kopers in Nederland. Stripe noemt het tegenwoordig “iDEAL | Wero”, dus je kunt beide namen tegenkomen (Stripe, October 3, 2026).
- Bancontact voor kopers in België, met een Bancontact-kaart of de mobiele app, gekoppeld aan een Belgische bankrekening (Stripe, October 3, 2026).
- Visa and Mastercard (credit and debit cards), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link.
Unavailable: PayPal, SEPA direct debit, Klarna (only for buyers in the United States), Tikkie, Riverty (formerly AfterPay), and bank transfer.
Limits and conditions
- Minimum $10 per top-up, prepaid, with no monthly fee. Larger amounts receive extra balance: $100 → $110, $1.000 → $1.200, $5.000 → $6.250.
- Your balance never expires, and failed requests are not charged.
- Automatic top-ups work only with a saved card or Link. With iDEAL or Bancontact, you top up manually.
- Kunavo does not issue invoices, including VAT invoices. Your top-ups are listed with their date, amount, and status under Billing in your dashboard.
- The balance is for the API: your own code, Claude Code with a key, and other tools that work with a key. You cannot use it to pay for Claude Pro or Max.
How to pay with iDEAL or Bancontact
- Create an account. It's free.
- Under Billing, choose an amount starting at $10.
- In the Stripe checkout, choose iDEAL or Bancontact and confirm the payment in your banking app (iDEAL) or with your Bancontact card or app.
- Create a key under API keys.
- Set
https://api.kunavo.comas the base URL in your tool or SDK, or use the Claude Code settings above.
The complete payment process is described in Paying for Claude with iDEAL. For other countries and payment methods, see the English guide Pay for the Claude API without a credit card.
Which Claude model should you choose?
- Claude Haiku 4.5 ($0,70 / $3,50): classification, data extraction, and short answers at high volume. The cheapest Claude model.
- Claude Sonnet 5 ($1,40 / $7,00): the standard choice for programming and agents.
- Claude Opus 5.5 ($2,80 / $14,00): difficult, lengthy tasks and complex code, at the lowest Opus rate.
- Claude Fable 5.1 ($7,00 / $35,00): the most demanding reasoning tasks. The most expensive model in the table, so use it only where truly necessary.
Get started: Create an account, top up with iDEAL, Bancontact, or a card, and create a key. You only pay at your first top-up. This pricing guide is also available in English (Claude API pricing 2026) and German (Claude API Preise).
Frequently asked questions
What does the Claude API cost?
You pay per token, separately for input and output, with no subscription or monthly fee. At Kunavo, Claude costs Haiku 4.5 $0,70 per million input tokens, Claude costs Sonnet 5 $1,40, and Claude costs Fable 5.1 $7,00; output costs 5 times the input price for each of these models. That is 30% below Anthropic’s list price. The API is not completely free: Anthropic gives new users a small starting credit for testing, while Kunavo does not provide starting credit. Prices checked on October 3, 2026.
How much does Claude Sonnet cost per million tokens?
Anthropic charges Claude Sonnet 5 $2,00 per million input tokens and $10,00 per million output tokens. This was an introductory price at launch, but Anthropic made it the standard price; the planned increase to $3 / $15 on September 1, 2026 will not happen. At Kunavo, Sonnet 5 costs $1,40 / $7,00, and a cache read costs 10% of the input price.
What does Claude Opus cost?
Claude Opus 5.5, the latest Opus, costs $4,00 / $20,00 per million input and output tokens at Anthropic and $2,80 / $14,00 at Kunavo. This makes it cheaper than Claude Opus 5 ($3,50 / $17,50 at Kunavo) and than every other Opus version. A cache read costs 5% of the input price for Opus 5.5.
How much does one agent step or request with Claude cost?
A typical agent step uses approximately 25.000 input tokens and 1.200 output tokens. Without caching, it costs approximately $0,0434 on Claude Sonnet 5, $0,0868 on Claude Opus 5.5, and $0,0217 on Claude Haiku 4.5 at Kunavo. With prompt caching, a large portion of the input can come from the cache: if 20.000 of the 25.000 input tokens are cache hits, the same step on Sonnet 5 costs approximately $0,0182.
Can I pay for the Claude API with iDEAL or Bancontact?
Not at Anthropic: Anthropic accepts credit and debit cards and charges in dollars. At Kunavo, Stripe Checkout offers iDEAL when it displays the amount in euros to a buyer in the Netherlands, and Bancontact to a buyer in Belgium; it also supports Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link. Stripe’s exchange rate includes a 2–4% conversion markup. The minimum top-up is $10, with no monthly fee.
Does my balance expire, and do failed requests cost money?
A Kunavo balance never expires, and failed requests are not charged. With Anthropic, API credits expire one year after purchase and are non-refundable. The minimum top-up at Kunavo is $10.
Do I get a VAT invoice?
No. Kunavo does not issue invoices, including VAT invoices. Under Billing in your dashboard, each top-up is shown with its date, amount, and status.
Does a Kunavo balance also pay for Claude Pro or Max?
No. A top-up at Kunavo funds an API balance: for the Claude API, Claude Code with an API key, and other tools that work with a key. You purchase Claude Pro ($20 per month) and Max (from $100 per month) from Anthropic at claude.ai with a credit or debit card, or through the App Store or Google Play.