Is Claude Code free? How to use it for free for 7 days and what it costs afterward

No, Claude Code is not free: it is not included in Claude's free plan. What is free is the software itself—the CLI and the extensions for VS Code and JetBrains—and a guest pass: seven days of Claude Pro, including Claude Code, that an eligible Pro or Max subscriber can give to someone who has never paid for a Claude subscription. After that, each model call must be paid for, either with a subscription (Claude Pro costs $20 per month, before taxes) or without one, by token, using an API key. On Kunavo, a typical 20-step Claude Code task with Claude Sonnet 5 costs about $0.87.

Updated October 10, 2026. Plans, prices, and limits are taken from Anthropic's pricing page, Claude Code's installation documentation, and two articles in its help center (Claude Code with Pro or Max, guest passes). Kunavo's prices are taken directly from its model catalog.

What's free in Claude Code and what isn't

Claude Code is an agent: at every step—whether reading a file, proposing a change, running a command, or checking the result—it calls a Claude model, and an account has to pay for those calls. According to the installation documentation, Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, or Console account, and Claude.ai's free plan does not include access to Claude Code. It also works through a cloud provider such as Amazon Bedrock or, as you'll see below, through a gateway with your own API key.

Claude plans that include Claude Code

Prices from claude.com/es/pricing are in US dollars and exclude taxes. The break-even point between subscription and API pricing, with a per-model breakdown, is covered in Claude Code pricing.

According to the help center, Pro and Max share their allowance between Claude chat and Claude Code: everything you do in either one counts toward the same limits. The pricing page does not give figures for that allowance, only the Max multiplier. When you reach the session or weekly limit, you can wait for it to reset or enable extra usage credits, which are charged at standard API rates. The monthly API credits included with Max, however, cannot be used in Claude Code. And if ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set in your terminal, Claude Code uses that key instead of the subscription: usage is then billed as API usage, and the plan allowance remains untouched.

The guest pass: seven days of Claude Code without paying

The only official way to use Claude Code for free is with a guest pass. Here's how Anthropic's help center describes it:

• Who can send one: only eligible Pro and Max subscribers. They can see their passes in Claude Code with the /passes command or in Claude settings under “Claude Code,” and share a personal invitation link.
• What you get: seven days of Claude Pro, including Claude Code, Cowork, and Claude Design.
• Who can use one: only someone who has never had a paid Claude subscription.
• The fine print: you must enter a payment method when you sign up. You won't be charged if you stop using Claude after the seven days; if you don't cancel, the trial automatically becomes a paid Pro subscription.
• Limited availability: each subscriber has a limited number of passes, which can expire or be withdrawn, and they are redeemed on a first-come, first-served basis.

In practice: ask a colleague or friend with Pro or Max for the link, and mark the end of the seven days on your calendar if you don't want to pay afterward. If you've ever had a paid Claude subscription, the guest pass isn't for you; your remaining options are a subscription or an API key.

Ollama, free models, leaked builds: what these tricks actually offer

Many tutorials that promise “Claude Code for free” are really suggesting a workaround. Here's a closer look at the three most common ones:

• Claude Code with Ollama. According to its documentation, Ollama connects Claude Code to local and cloud models through an Anthropic-compatible API. The tool works, but the model responding is an open model from another provider, not Claude. Locally, you don't pay for tokens, but you need a powerful computer: for large repositories, Ollama recommends a context window of at least 64k tokens.
• OpenRouter's free models. There were no Anthropic models among the free models on the OpenRouter list as of October 10, 2026. Claude models are also paid per token there.
• Leaked or “unlocked” builds. The CLI is already free; an unofficial build doesn't change the fact that someone has to pay for the model calls—it can only change the model. There is also a security risk: Anthropic signs its macOS and Windows builds and publishes a signed manifest with checksums alongside them (installation documentation). A build obtained elsewhere does not have that verification chain.

What they all have in common is that they give you the Claude Code interface, but not the model it was built for. Using Claude requires payment; the only question is how much.

How much Claude Code costs without a subscription

Without a subscription, each model call is paid for by the token. Since Claude Code resends the system prompt, conversation, and file context at every step, an agentic step is heavier than a chat message: about 25,000 input tokens and 1,200 output tokens. With Claude Sonnet 5, deliberately without prompt caching:

Ten tasks per month therefore cost about $8.68 on Kunavo, and the smallest top-up, $10, covers about 12 tasks. Pro's $20 is equivalent to about 460 steps, or 23 tasks per month. If you exceed that volume every month and Pro's limits are sufficient, the subscription is cheaper; if you code in bursts, the key is better, because a month without usage costs nothing. The full calculation, including Max and the per-model breakdown, is in Claude Code pricing.

The cheapest option without a subscription: your own API key

Claude Code reads ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and works with any endpoint that supports Anthropic's Messages API, without plugins, a proxy, or modified binaries. Kunavo is an independent gateway that offers the same Claude models 30% below Anthropic's rate, paid for with a prepaid balance starting at $10, with no monthly fee. Set these variables in your terminal:

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-4-5

Don't remove the model lines. Without ANTHROPIC_MODEL, Claude Code starts with its default model, which Anthropic currently says is Opus 5.5; that line makes it start with Claude Sonnet 5, the model used in the account above. ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL sets the opus alias to Opus 5.5, which Claude Code supports from version 2.1.280; if your installation is older, run claude update. The sonnet alias requests Sonnet 5.5, which Kunavo does not serve: without ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL, /model sonnet, the opusplan execution phase, and subagents using model: sonnet, fail with a 404 error. ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL routes Claude Code's background calls to Claude Haiku 4.5.

To make this permanent, put these variables in the env block in ~/.claude/settings.json. Remote Control and voice dictation require a claude.ai session and do not work with a gateway key; coding, tools, subagents, and MCP work normally. For step-by-step installation and setup, see how to install Claude Code.

Paying from Spain

Top up at Stripe checkout using a card (Visa, Mastercard, or American Express, including debit cards), Link, Apple Pay in Safari and on iPhone, or Google Pay in Chrome and Android. Kunavo does not offer PayPal, SEPA direct debit, or Bizum. Stripe displays the amount in euros, with a 2–4% conversion fee included in the exchange rate; you can avoid this by paying in dollars. The balance does not expire and only pays for API usage through Kunavo: it cannot be used to subscribe to Claude Pro or Max. For details on all payment methods, see paying for the Claude API without a credit card.

Frequently asked questions