Anthropic sells three consumer tiers. The difference between them is usage capacity rather than model access, which is not obvious from the names and is the thing most people get wrong when choosing.
Pro
Twenty dollars a month at list, and the tier most individual users want. It covers the current models, longer context than the free tier, and a usage allowance that suits ordinary daily work: research, drafting, code review in reasonable sessions. Heavy sustained coding is where people hit its ceiling.
Max, five times
One hundred dollars a month at list. The name is literal: roughly five times the Pro usage allowance. It exists for people who were repeatedly running out on Pro rather than for people who want different capabilities. If you have never hit a limit, this tier will not feel different.
Max, twenty times
Two hundred dollars a month at list, and around twenty times Pro's allowance. This is a working professional's tier: sustained agentic coding sessions, long document pipelines, or a single person doing the volume a small team would.
How the terms price
Longer commitments discount. Pro runs fifty seven dollars for three months, one hundred and eight for six, and two hundred and four for twelve, against two hundred and forty at the monthly rate. That is roughly fifteen, twenty three and thirty one percent off respectively. Max tiers scale the same way from their own base.
Choosing without overpaying
Start at Pro. The usage ceiling is the only thing that pushes you up, and you will know within a fortnight whether you are hitting it. Buying Max first on the assumption that more is better is the common and expensive mistake, because the models are the same.
What a gift plan does not change
A gifted subscription is the same product at the same tier. It does not carry different limits, different models or different terms, and it stacks onto an existing subscription by extending the period rather than replacing it. If you already have Pro and redeem a Pro gift, you get more time, not an upgrade.