Anthropic recently released Claude Opus 4.5, their most powerful model to date. With its pricing structure, high-end AI is becoming more accessible.
But figuring out the real cost of using a large language model is rarely as simple as checking the price tag. You have different pricing models, optimization features, and a sea of competitors to navigate. It can get confusing fast.
This guide aims to clarify things. We'll walk through every detail of the Claude Opus 4.5 pricing, from the basic API costs to features like prompt caching that can help manage costs. We’ll also compare it to its main competitors and look at an alternative way to bring AI into your business.
What is Claude Opus 4.5?
What exactly is Claude Opus 4.5? It's Anthropic's top-of-the-line model, designed for complex, multi-step jobs that require significant processing power.
It performs well at tasks like coding, handling complex automated workflows (often called "agentic" tasks), and using computer apps. It scored 80.9% on a coding test, a coding benchmark.
On the technical side, it has a large context window of 200,000 tokens. This lets it process and remember a large amount of information at once, such as hundreds of pages from a document.
This combination of performance and cost may open opportunities for more developers and businesses, making the development of sophisticated AI tools more accessible.
The complete Claude Opus 4.5 pricing breakdown
Alright, let's talk numbers. Here's a straightforward look at how you can pay for and use Claude Opus 4.5, based on Anthropic's official information.
Base API pricing
If you're building an app that uses Claude, you'll be working with their API. The pricing is based on "tokens," which are small fragments of words. Approximately 1,000 tokens is equal to 750 words.
The standard rates are:
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$5 per million input tokens (the information you send to the model).
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$25 per million output tokens (the response the model gives back).
Output tokens are more expensive because generating new text is a more computationally intensive task for the model.
Here’s a quick summary to keep things simple:
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Input Tokens | $5.00 per 1 million tokens |
| Output Tokens | $25.00 per 1 million tokens |
| Context Window | 200,000 tokens |
| Max Output | 64,000 tokens |
Claude model comparison
Opus 4.5 is part of a larger family of models. Anthropic provides a few different options, allowing users to choose a balance of intelligence, speed, and cost for their needs.
This table breaks down how Opus 4.5 compares to its siblings, using data straight from Anthropic's pricing page.
| Model | Input ($/MTok) | Output ($/MTok) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.5 | $5.00 | $25.00 | Complex reasoning & coding |
| Claude Opus 4.1 | $15.00 | $75.00 | (Legacy Model) |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | $3.00 | $15.00 | Balanced performance & cost |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1.00 | $5.00 | Speed & high-volume tasks |
As shown, Opus 4.5 is priced lower than its predecessor, Opus 4.1, while Sonnet and Haiku are options for tasks that do not require the same level of processing power.
Subscription plans for individuals and teams
For those who want to use Claude for chat without building a custom application, Anthropic offers subscription plans.
Here’s how they break down, according to the Claude pricing page:
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Pro Plan ($20/month): This is for individuals who want to use Opus 4.5 through the claude.ai chat interface. It gives you way more usage than the free version.
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Max Plan (from $100/month): Aimed at power users who need even higher usage limits and want early access to new features.
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Team Plans ($25-$150/seat/month): Built for businesses that need collaboration tools, admin controls, and single sign-on (SSO) for their teams.
Subscriptions offer predictable monthly costs for conversational use with Claude. For building custom AI tools, the API pricing model is the relevant one.
Advanced cost optimization strategies
Beyond the standard prices, Anthropic offers features designed to help lower costs.
Save up to 90% with prompt caching
Prompt caching is a feature for reducing costs on repeated input tokens.
For example, if you have a customer service bot, you likely begin every conversation with the same lengthy instructions (the "system prompt"). Without caching, you’d pay the full input price for that prompt every single time.
Prompt caching lets you store a block of text and refer to it. After a one-time fee to "cache" the prompt, its subsequent usage cost is significantly lower.
Here's the cost breakdown from Anthropic's pricing:
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Cache Write: A one-time fee of $6.25 per million tokens to store the prompt.
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Cache Read: Just $0.50 per million tokens every time you use it after that.
This represents a 90% saving on the standard $5 input price for Opus 4.5. For applications that use a large document or a detailed system prompt, the infographic below illustrates how this feature can lead to substantial savings.
Get a 50% discount with the batch API
Another cost-saving tool is the Batch API, designed for jobs that do not require an immediate response.
In exchange, you receive a 50% discount, which can make large-scale tasks more affordable.
It’s perfect for things like:
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Generating a bunch of reports at the end of the day.
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Creating a large volume of marketing content.
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Analyzing big datasets without a time crunch.
If your work is not time-sensitive, the Batch API can reduce your costs by 50%.
Claude Opus 4.5 vs. competitors
Claude competes with models from OpenAI and Google. Here is how its pricing compares.
Price comparison: Claude Opus 4.5 vs. GPT-5.1 vs. Gemini 3 Pro
This table compares the specs and pricing for the three models, using public information from OpenAI and Google.
| Model | Input ($/MTok) | Output ($/MTok) | Context Window | Key Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.5 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 200K | Top-tier coding performance, prompt caching savings |
| GPT-5.1 (Standard) | $1.25 | $10.00 | 128K | Lowest raw per-token price in this comparison |
| Gemini 3 Pro Preview (≤200K) | $2.00 | $12.00 | Up to 1M+ | Tiered pricing for massive context window |
While the token prices for GPT and Gemini may appear lower, Claude's cost-saving features like prompt caching can be impactful. For applications that repeatedly use large prompts, the 90% input discount can affect the total cost.
Hidden costs of building with raw APIs
The per-token prices are one part of the total cost. Building a custom AI solution from the ground up includes other expenses.
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Development Resources: Building, connecting, and maintaining the application requires skilled AI engineers, and their salaries can be a significant expense.
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Cost Management: Budgeting based on token usage can be complex. It can be difficult to predict, track, and manage spending, particularly at scale.
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Development Time: The timeline from an API key to a deployed AI agent can be lengthy.
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Ongoing Maintenance: Custom solutions require continuous maintenance, including prompt adjustments, model updates, and bug fixes, which all consume engineering time.
When all factors are considered, the API cost may be a small part of the total expense.
The AI teammate model: A simpler alternative
An alternative to building a custom solution is to use a pre-built AI teammate.
This is the model used by platforms like eesel AI. They package the capabilities of advanced models into an AI teammate that can be implemented quickly.
This approach addresses some of the challenges of building from scratch:
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Predictable Pricing: Some platforms do not charge by the token. Their plans are based on monthly interactions for predictable costs. The Team plan starts at $239/month for 1,000 interactions.
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Simplified Setup: An AI teammate can be onboarded by connecting it to a help desk like Zendesk or Intercom. It can learn from existing data like past tickets and help center articles, often without requiring engineering resources.
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Integrated Platform: These platforms may offer features like autonomous ticket resolution with an AI Agent or reply assistance with an AI Copilot. This provides access to the capabilities of models like Opus 4.5 within an integrated system.
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Customization: These tools can offer more customization than some out-of-the-box solutions. As Alton Ong from EntryLevel said, "We tried using Intercom Fin but weren’t able to customize it. We now have 3 eesel AI agents in Intercom that triage and respond."
For a more detailed breakdown of how Claude Opus 4.5's pricing and performance stack up in real-world use cases, the following review offers some valuable insights.
A video reviewing the new Claude Opus 4.5 pricing and its improved performance, explaining why it's cheaper and better.
Is Claude Opus 4.5 pricing worth it?
Claude Opus 4.5 is a powerful model, and its price point makes it a viable option for many different projects. By using features like prompt caching and the Batch API, it can be cost-effective, particularly for complicated tasks where its performance is beneficial.
For teams with the engineering resources and time to build a custom AI solution, Opus 4.5 is a strong candidate. Its performance is notable.
For many businesses, the process of developing a custom AI agent can be resource-intensive. The associated costs of development and maintenance are significant factors to consider in addition to token price.
For companies looking to implement AI for customer service quickly, a platform like eesel AI offers a more direct route. It provides the capabilities of advanced AI models in a ready-to-use format.
See how eesel can automate your support with clear, predictable pricing. Start your free trial today.
Frequently asked questions
The Claude Opus 4.5 pricing is significantly lower than its predecessor. For example, input tokens dropped from $15 to $5 per million, and output tokens dropped from $75 to $25 per million, making it much more affordable for complex tasks.
Prompt caching can reduce your costs by up to 90% on repeated inputs. You pay a small one-time fee to store a prompt, and subsequent uses of that prompt are charged at a much lower rate ($0.50 per million tokens instead of $5), which is ideal for applications with recurring instructions.
Yes, Anthropic's Batch API offers a 50% discount on the standard Claude Opus 4.5 pricing. It's designed for tasks that don't require an immediate response, allowing you to cut costs in half for large-scale, asynchronous jobs.
The API pricing is usage-based, charging you per million input and output tokens, which is best for building custom applications. Subscription plans (like Pro and Team) offer a flat monthly fee for direct chat access to the model, providing predictable costs for conversational use.
Not always. While the per-token cost is important, the total cost of ownership is a larger factor. This includes development time, engineering salaries, and ongoing maintenance. For some use cases, a platform with predictable monthly fees may be more cost-effective than building from scratch with raw API pricing.
The standard API rates are $5 per million input tokens (the data you send to the model) and $25 per million output tokens (the data the model generates in response).
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Article by
Kenneth Pangan
Writer and marketer for over ten years, Kenneth Pangan splits his time between history, politics, and art with plenty of interruptions from his dogs demanding attention.
