Use Claude Code without a subscription: pay as you go

Can you use Claude Code without a subscription?

Yes. Claude Code supports two ways to authenticate: signing in with a Claude plan, or an API key. With an API key there is no plan involved. Claude Code sends each request to the endpoint you configure and the cost of the tokens is deducted from your balance.

How plan limits work

What pay as you go costs per month

Cost depends on the model and on how much context each turn sends. Three example workdays, priced live at Anthropic list price, with the lowest aicodewith rate next to them:

Token mixes are illustrative (most Claude Code tokens are cache reads). Run /cost in Claude Code to see your own numbers. More detail on the usage limits page.

• •Light: everyday edits and questions on Claude Sonnet 5.5.
• •Moderate: the same day on Claude Opus 5.5.
• •Heavy: long Opus sessions with large repos and subagents.

"From" prices are based on the Economy channel, the lowest-priced Claude channel currently listed (about 19% of Anthropic list price). Other channels cost more; the rate depends on the channel you choose, and the models page is always the source of truth.

Pay as you go vs Pro and Max: when each wins

The table shows how many active days of each usage level add up to one month of each plan. Fewer active days than that, and per-token billing is cheaper.

Read it as: if you have fewer active days per month than the number shown, per-token billing costs less than that plan. If you work more days than that and stay inside the plan's allowance, the plan is usually cheaper. "31+ days" means per-token billing costs less than the plan even if you code every day. Heavy days may not fit inside a plan's 5-hour and weekly allowance at all. Plan prices from claude.com/pricing; token prices are live.

You can mix both: keep a plan for daily work and switch Claude Code to an API key only when you hit the cap. Remove the variables and run /login to switch back.

Set it up in three steps

1. 1. Top up and create a key

   Sign up, top up your balance (card via Stripe in USD, or Alipay in CNY for mainland China accounts), then create a key on the API Keys page. Add a daily or monthly spend cap if you like.

2. 2. Add the key to ~/.claude/settings.json

   Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\settings.json. ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is the bare domain, with no /v1.

   ~/.claude/settings.json

   {
     "env": {
       "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "YOUR_API_KEY",
       "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "",
       "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.aicodewith.ai"
     }
   }

3. 3. Restart and check

   Close every Claude Code session, run claude, then /status to confirm the endpoint is api.aicodewith.ai. /cost shows what the session has cost so far.

Full Claude Code setup guideAPI key setup in detail

Seeing "no active subscription" or a login prompt?

That message means Claude Code is still trying to use a Claude plan login and has not picked up an API key. It is a configuration issue, not a billing one.

1. Check that ~/.claude/settings.json exists, is valid JSON, and has ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN inside the env block.
2. On a fresh install, add "hasCompletedOnboarding": true to ~/.claude.json so Claude Code skips the sign-in screen.
3. Make sure ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is empty and no old value is exported in your shell.
4. Close every Claude Code session and start it again, then run /status.

What happens when the balance runs out

• •Requests fail with an insufficient-balance error, and Claude Code shows it as an API error. Nothing else happens.
• •Nothing is charged to your card automatically. You top up when you choose.
• •The same applies when a key hits its own daily, monthly or total spend cap.
• •Turn on the low-balance email alert in the dashboard to get a reminder before it happens.
• •Unused balance can be refunded within 90 days of the top-up, with a 10% fee deducted.

Top-up optionsRefund policy

FAQ