I'm really curious to hear about people's experiences with the new Claude Max. Is it really better than just using the Claude + Sonnet extension in VS Code? I've always thought it was a bit much paying for both the Claude Pro subscription ($20) and the API on top of that, especially since I hardly use the chat interface. Now that the $100 Max subscription is available, it seems like it could combine the best of both worlds, but that's a pretty big investment. I'm particularly looking for feedback from folks who, like me, are balancing costs between Pro and API usage. Does consolidating to Claude Max actually make sense financially and from a user experience standpoint?
3 Answers
What setup are you using? I'd like to try the API first to see if moving to MAX is worth it.
I just switched to the $100 plan last week, and I’m really happy with it so far. I used to spend around $3 to $5 daily on the API.
I just got the Claude Max for $200 a month, and I have to say, I’m really impressed. I use Claude Code at work, and during moderate coding sessions, I spend about $10 to $20 every 1 to 3 hours. I feel like I’ve already gotten my money's worth within just a couple of days. If you enjoy using Claude Code, then this is a no-brainer. If you haven't tried it yet, definitely check out the API first—it's really different from just using a VS Code fork. It might not suit everyone initially, but the potential for quality output is so much higher once you get the hang of it. Plus, the deep research beta is fantastic for generating decent code that you can feed back into Claude Code! Let me know if you have any other questions.
How is your CC set up?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!