Verified decision guide
Claude Code Extra Usage: Credits, Caps and API Billing
Follow Claude Code's post-limit billing path: subscription usage credits, separate API-key charges, spending caps, paused SDK rules, and the September 2026 weekly-limit change.
Direct answer
Identify the account being billed before continuing
For individual Pro/Max users signed in with their Claude subscription, included usage can be followed by optional usage credits (formerly extra usage), billed at standard API rates. Enable and fund this path separately; the subscription fee does not buy unlimited continuation. Without it, wait for the relevant included limit to reset or change plans.
An ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the environment takes priority over subscription login and bills the key's API account. Subscription spending settings do not cap that separate API account.
Billing path and controls
| Path | What pays | What to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Claude login, included usage | Pro/Max subscription allowance shared by Claude and Claude Code. | Relevant session/weekly window on usage limits. |
| Claude login, usage credits enabled | Separate prepaid balance shared by Claude and Claude Code after included usage. | Claude Settings → Usage: balance, monthly spend cap, and optional auto-reload. |
| API key / Console billing | Key-associated API account, separate from Pro/Max. | Run /status; inspect Console billing and its auto-reload. Keep the environment key unset to use subscription auth. |
| Team / Enterprise | Organization plan, seat and contract terms. | Ask the administrator to identify the seat/billing cohort; do not apply these individual purchase controls globally. For Enterprise, use the current and legacy seat decision table. |
- Confirm subscription authentication with
/status. - On the web, open Settings → Usage, enable usage credits, set a monthly limit and add funds. Mobile subscribers also need a web payment method for this purchase.
- Treat balance, monthly spend cap and auto-reload as separate controls. Funding alone is not an unlimited budget; a cap alone is not prepaid money. Disable usage credits to return to included-only use on this auth path.
Rates follow the selected model's API input/output token prices and caching rates, rather than a flat amount per prompt. The extra-usage path does not move the included five-hour reset. Exact workload cost is Unknown — account_dependent until model, tokens and billable features are known.
Agent SDK: the announced change is paused
As verified September 8, Anthropic's June 15 pause notice says subscription-authenticated Agent SDK, claude -p, and third-party harness usage still draw from subscription limits. The announced monthly credit allocation is unavailable. The retained announcement below the notice is historical reference, not an active billing rule. API-key SDK usage remains the separate API path.
Weekly-limit change and regional credit expiry
The promotion that gave eligible paid cohorts 50% more weekly Claude Code usage ran May 13 through September 13, 2026 at 23:59 PT (). Anthropic then made part of it permanent: starting September 14, 2026, Claude Code weekly limits are 25% higher than before the promotion for Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans. Neither change moved the five-hour window. Reverified .
Usage credits are separate from the monthly API credits included with Max plans; those API credits do not pay for usage in Claude, Claude Code, or Claude Cowork.
Rechecked : the current official usage-credit guidance still specifies six months from purchase in jurisdictions such as Japan, starting September 10. This is regional, not a universal expiry rule. Unknown — account_dependent: the exact start timezone, other affected regions and treatment of pre-existing balances are not established here. Check Settings → Usage for the expiry dates on your actual balance; do not assume all credits expire today or that old purchases are exempt.
Sources and freshness
- Claude usage credits
- Use Claude Code with Pro or Max
- Claude Code API-key authentication priority
- Claude Agent SDK subscription billing pause
- Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion
- Claude API pricing and token/cache rate basis
Review weekly; specifically reverify regional credit expiry on September 10 and the promotion after September 13, 2026 23:59 PT; any SDK pause/resumption needs review.
For current plans and allowances, see the product guide.