Claude Max and Team plans include monthly credits for building on the Claude Platform—the Claude API and related Console tools—not for stretching your chat or Claude Code usage limits. Anthropic's help center and platform docs (updated this week as of our October 25, 2026 check) spell out who gets how much, how to claim, and what is left out.
How much you get
| Plan | Monthly credit |
|---|---|
| Max 5x | $100 |
| Max 20x | $200 |
| Team, Standard seat | $20 per seat* |
| Team, Premium seat | $100 per seat* |
\*On Team, credits for all seats pool into one monthly balance, capped at $500. Anthropic's example: three Standard seats plus two Premium seats = $260 a month. Discounted Team plans (Nonprofit, Scientists) use the same per-seat amounts. Free, Pro, and Enterprise plans are not eligible.
Who can claim, and when
Your Max or Team subscription must be active and in good standing. New subscribers claim only after seven days on an eligible plan. You can subscribe on web, iOS, or Android, but you claim on claude.ai in a browser. You do not need a payment method on Claude Platform to claim or use the credit.
Roles: on Max, the subscriber; on Team, a Primary Owner or Owner. In the Console organization, you need Owner, Admin, or Billing. If you do not have a Console org yet, you can create one during the claim flow or at platform.claude.com.
How to claim (Link organization)
- On claude.ai, open Settings → Billing (Max) or Organization settings → Billing (Team Owner / Primary Owner).
- In the API credits section, select Link organization.
- Choose the Console organization that should receive the credits, or create a new one.
- Review the Supplemental Credit Terms, then link.
Credits then appear in that organization's balance. You can link only one Console organization, and each Console organization can receive credits from only one plan. You cannot change the linked organization yourself; contact support to change it later. Anthropic suggests signing into the Console with the same email you use on claude.ai.
What the credits cover—and what they don't
Covered: Claude API (Messages and Message Batches), the Playground in the Claude Console, Claude Managed Agents, and the Claude Agent SDK—on any available Claude model on the Claude Platform.
Not covered: interactive Claude Code in the terminal, IDE, desktop, or web; extra usage in Claude, Claude Code, or Claude Cowork after you hit plan limits; Claude on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry.
On `claude -p`: Anthropic's help-center FAQ says API credits cover `claude -p` and Agent SDK runs when you use an API key from the linked Console organization (billed as Agent SDK usage). When you are signed in with your Claude plan instead, that usage still draws from plan limits and does not use API credits. Runs started by the Claude Code GitHub Action, an IDE extension, or the Claude desktop app count as Claude Code usage, so API credits do not cover them even with `-p`.
How the credits behave
New credits arrive each billing cycle shortly after plan payment (monthly on annual plans). Unused credits do not roll over. Included credits are spent before purchased credits. Everyone with an API key in the linked organization draws from the same balance. The credits do not change your usage limits in Claude, Claude Code, or Cowork—they are a separate pool.
When the balance runs out, requests stop unless the organization has purchased credits or auto-reload; usage is never charged to your Claude subscription. Buy credits or turn on auto-reload in the Console to keep going. Canceling, downgrading to an ineligible plan, or a refund stops new credits; credits you already have stay usable until they expire. Upgrading Max 5x to Max 20x brings prorated credits right away, then $200 each cycle. Moving from Max to Team ends the Max link; a Team owner can claim after seven days on Team.
We have not tested the claim flow ourselves; for reference only.