Claude

Claude is Anthropic’s AI assistant, built for writing, research, long documents, coding and longer tasks you can hand off. It runs on the web, in desktop apps for Mac and Windows, and on iPhone and Android.

This Claude review covers what it can do in 2026, the models behind it, pricing in the US and India for the Free, Pro, Max and Ultra plans, how your data is used, and how it compares with ChatGPT.

What Claude does

• Chat and writing: draft emails, posts, reports and stories, edit your own drafts and match the tone you ask for.
• Long documents: read and compare long PDFs, contracts and reports, with a context window of up to 1 million tokens (it varies by model).
• Web search and research: answers with sources on every plan, plus a deeper Research mode on paid plans.
• Files and code: create and edit documents, spreadsheets and charts by running code, and analyze images you upload.
• Claude Design, Slides and Docs: build visual designs, presentations and documents, available on every plan including Free.
• Voice and memory: talk to it in voice mode, and let it remember useful context across chats (with incognito chats when you don’t want that).

It does not generate photos or illustrations. For photo-style images, pair it with a tool like Canva.

Agents and advanced features

Paid plans add tools for bigger jobs:

• Claude Code: Anthropic’s agentic coding tool, included on all paid plans and sharing the same usage pool as chat.
• Hand off and schedule tasks: give it a longer job, or a recurring one, and come back to the finished work. Our Claude Cowork setup guide shows how to set this up with your own files.
• Claude in Chrome, Microsoft 365 and Outlook: use it inside your browser, Office documents and email.
• Projects, skills and connectors: keep related chats and files together (up to 5 projects on Free), teach it repeatable jobs with skills, and connect apps like Google Drive, Notion and Canva.
• Claude Data, Sheets and Whiteboards: data analysis plus spreadsheets and whiteboards (beta) on paid plans.

Claude models in 2026

Anthropic’s models page lists four current models, all with a 1M-token context window:

• Fable 5.2: the most capable, for demanding reasoning and long agentic work. Included on Max and Ultra (up to half the weekly limit) and available on Pro through usage credits.
• Opus 5.5: Anthropic’s recommended model for most work, on paid plans.
• Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5: faster models, available on every plan including Free.

Developers can also use the models through the API, from $0.10 per million input tokens (Haiku 5.5) to $8 (Fable 5.2).

Claude pricing (2026): US and India

These are the prices on the official pricing page, before applicable tax:

• Free: $0. Chat, web search, files and code, memory, connectors, voice, Artifacts, and Claude Design, Slides and Docs, with limits that reset every 5 hours and every week.
• Pro: $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually ($200 up front). More usage, Opus, Claude Code, Research, Projects, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365, and scheduled tasks.
• Max: $100 a month. Five times Pro usage, Fable included, $100 a month in API credits and priority access at busy times.
• Ultra: $200 a month. Ten times Pro weekly usage, no 5-hour limit for verified accounts and $200 a month in API credits.
• Team: Standard seats $25 per user per month ($20 billed annually) and Premium seats $125 ($100 billed annually), for 2 to 150 people. No training on your content by default.
• Enterprise: $20 per seat per month plus usage at API rates, billed annually.

In India: Anthropic began showing rupee prices to users in India in July 2026. TechCrunch reported Pro at ₹2,000 a month, Max from ₹11,999 and Team from ₹2,399 per seat, including local taxes. If your account shows US dollars, GST may be added at checkout. Paid plans can be bought with a credit card.

Is Claude free?

Yes. The free plan includes chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, file creation, memory, connectors, voice mode and Claude Design, Slides and Docs, using the Sonnet and Haiku models. Usage is limited per 5-hour window and per week, so upgrade to Pro if you hit the limits often or need Claude Code and Opus.

Privacy and your data

On the Free, Pro, Max and Ultra plans, you can opt out of having your chats used for model training in your settings. Team and Enterprise plans do not train on your content by default. Anthropic has also committed to keeping its assistant ad-free. As with any AI tool, avoid pasting confidential client information into a personal account unless training is turned off.

How to get started

Sign up free, then try three jobs: upload a long PDF and ask for a one-page summary, paste a rough draft and ask it to tighten the writing in your voice, and ask it to turn your notes into a short slide deck. Give clear context in your first message and say what format you want. If you hit the free limits regularly, try Pro for a month before choosing an annual plan.

Claude vs alternatives

• ChatGPT creates images, offers unlimited free text chats and has a low-cost Go plan. See our full Claude vs ChatGPT comparison.
• Grammarly is better if you mainly need grammar and tone fixes wherever you type.
• Notion suits teams that want AI inside their notes, docs and projects.

Claude review verdict: who it is for

It is a strong choice for writers, bloggers, students and freelancers who work with long documents, and for developers who want an AI coding agent. The free plan is a good way to start, and Pro ($20 in the US, about ₹2,000 in India) is worth it if you use AI daily for work. For a deeper look at the company and features, read What is Claude AI? or browse more AI assistants.

Visit the official Claude website to start free.