Anthropic has more than doubled its estimate of how much developers spend using Claude Code, highlighting rising costs across AI tools.
The company now estimates an average cost of about $13 per developer per active day, up from a previous estimate of $6 earlier this month. For most users, daily costs are still expected to stay below $30, translating to roughly $150–$250 per month.
According to Anthropic, the increase isn’t due to a pricing change but reflects how usage has evolved. The shift comes as its more advanced model, Opus 4.7, replaces earlier versions like Sonnet 3.7, leading to heavier and more complex usage.
Tokens—units that AI models use to process and generate text—are the core driver of these costs. As developers rely more on powerful models and AI agents, token consumption has surged.
The update points to a broader trend: AI is becoming more expensive to run. Growing demand, especially for advanced models, is putting pressure on infrastructure and forcing companies to rethink pricing and limits.
Anthropic has already begun testing changes to its plans, as higher engagement levels reveal that earlier subscription models weren’t designed for current usage patterns.