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OpenCode vs Claude Code in 2026: Free and Open Source vs the $20 Default
OpenCode is free and open source with optional $10 or $40 Go plans; Claude Code needs a $20+ Claude plan. Here's what each really costs to run, dated.
9 min read
Checked Oct 20, 2026 on OpenCode’s providers docs, Go docs and Console models docs, and Oct 19, 2026 on Claude’s pricing page. All sources are listed at the end. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
OpenCode costs $0. Claude Code costs at least $20. Article over, right? Not quite. OpenCode is free the way a kitchen is free: you still have to buy the groceries. Every token comes from a provider, and someone bills you for it. Claude Code bundles the groceries into one subscription and rations them every five hours.
So the useful question isn’t “which is free?” It’s “what will I actually pay each month for the way I work?” That’s what this page answers, scenario by scenario.
We haven’t tested OpenCode or Claude Code. Everything below comes from OpenCode’s docs and Anthropic’s pages, with dates. No quality ranking, no invented benchmarks.
TL;DR: by situation
- Zero budget: OpenCode. The software is free and open source, and its Console lists a rotating set of free models (limited time, and some may use your data for training). Claude’s Free plan doesn’t include Claude Code at all.
- You already pay for Claude Pro or Max: stay in Claude Code. OpenCode’s docs say Anthropic explicitly prohibits using a Pro/Max subscription in OpenCode, and OpenCode stopped bundling the plugins that did it.
- You want model choice: OpenCode. Its docs list 75+ providers plus local models, and ChatGPT Plus, GitHub Copilot and GitLab Duo subscriptions work “with zero setup”.
- Heavy daily use: Claude Max ($100) or Ultra ($200, formerly Max 20x) if you want Sonnet and Opus on a flat bill. OpenCode Go Plus ($40) is cheaper, but its model list has no Sonnet or Opus.
For the rest of the field: AI coding tools compared and Claude Code alternatives.
What each costs
| Option | Price | Models | Limits | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenCode + own key | $0 + provider bill | 75+ providers, local models | Your provider’s | Providers |
| OpenCode Go | $10/mo | Curated list (mostly open), incl. Claude Haiku 5.5 | Per-model monthly $ limits | Go |
| OpenCode Go Plus | $40/mo | Same list | Higher $ limits | Go |
| Claude Pro | $20/mo, or $17/mo annual | Claude | Rolling 5-hour + weekly, shared with chat | Claude |
| Claude Max | $100 (Max) or $200 (Ultra) | Claude | 5x Pro or 10x Pro weekly | Claude |
OpenCode rows checked Oct 20, 2026. Claude rows checked Oct 19, 2026. Claude Pro’s annual price is $200 up front. Claude Code is included on every paid Claude plan and not on Free.
Go and Go Plus are optional. OpenCode’s docs say Go is “completely optional and you don’t need it to use OpenCode.” They’re also for single-member workspaces only, so it isn’t a team plan.
OpenCode’s free tier and Go limits
Ratatouille’s Gusteau said anyone can cook. OpenCode’s version is that anyone can plug in a model. The bill depends on which one you pick.
What’s actually free. OpenCode’s pay-as-you-go Console (formerly Zen) lists free models “for a limited time”, including GLM-5.3-Flash Free, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Free, Big Pickle, MiniMax M3.1 Flash Free, Nemotron 3 Ultra Free and several more. The catch is in OpenCode’s own words: some free models, Big Pickle and Exo Free among them, may use your data for training during the free period. Don’t paste your client’s codebase into a model you haven’t checked.
How Go limits work. Go’s limits are monthly dollar amounts per model, and token pricing is the same on Go and Go Plus. Each model’s allowance is split three ways: 20% of the monthly limit per 5 hours, 50% per week and 100% per month. If that sounds familiar, it should. It’s Anthropic’s five-hour-plus-weekly idea, with a dollar figure on it.
Selected per-model monthly limits:
| Model | Go | Go Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $15 | $60 |
| GPT 6 Luna | $15 | $60 |
| Kimi K3 | $15 | $60 |
| GLM-5.3 | $15 | $120 |
| Kimi K2.7 Code | $60 | $180 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $80 | $160 |
From OpenCode Go docs, checked Oct 20, 2026. Gemini 4 Argon Contributor is listed at $30 / $120, shown doubled to $60 / $240 for a limited time.
OpenCode also prints request caps for Go. Claude Haiku 5.5: 3,850 per 5 hours, 9,620 a week, 19,230 a month. GPT 6 Luna: 4,230 / 10,560 / 21,130. Kimi K3: 110 / 250 / 490. The gap between those numbers is the whole story. Small, cheap models go a long way on $10. Big ones run out fast.
Three models are marked “Unlimited” on Go for a limited time: LongCat 2.5 Preview Free, Beam Free (limited regions) and MiniMax M3.1 Flash Free.
Bring your own key: what API billing looks like
This is where OpenCode gets cheap or expensive, depending on you. You add a provider’s API key with the /connect command and pay that provider’s per-token rates.
Anthropic’s list rates per 1M tokens (checked Oct 18, 2026) are $0.10 in and $0.50 out for Haiku 5.5, $2 / $10 for Sonnet 5.5 and $4 / $20 for Opus 5.5. OpenAI’s gpt-6.1-sol is $2 / $10 and gpt-6-luna is $0.10 / $0.50 (checked Oct 18, 2026). Full tables, caching and batch discounts are on Claude API pricing and OpenAI API pricing.
Some simple maths: Claude Pro’s $20 buys 2M Sonnet 5.5 output tokens at list price, or 10M input tokens. How many coding sessions that covers depends on how much context each request carries, and we haven’t measured it. What we can say is that a subscription has a ceiling and an API key doesn’t.
Cost has layers, like Shrek’s ogres. Layer one, the software: $0. Layer two, tokens at your provider’s rate. Layer three, if you top up OpenCode’s Console: card fees passed through at cost (4.4% + $0.30 per transaction), and auto-reload adds $20 whenever your balance drops below $5.
Claude Max’s API credits. Max 5x includes $100 a month and Ultra (formerly Max 20x) $200 a month in API credits. Anthropic’s help article says they cover the Claude API, the Console Playground, Claude Managed Agents and the Claude Agent SDK. They don’t cover interactive Claude Code, and they don’t roll over. The article doesn’t mention third-party agents like OpenCode, so check your Console billing before you count on those credits paying for an Anthropic key in OpenCode.
Can OpenCode use a Claude Pro or Max subscription?
No. From OpenCode’s providers docs, checked Oct 20, 2026: “There are plugins that allow you to use your Claude Pro/Max models with OpenCode. Anthropic explicitly prohibits this. Previous versions of OpenCode came bundled with these plugins but that is no longer the case as of 1.3.0.”
The same page still has a leftover line about selecting a “Claude Pro/Max option”, but its own auth example only shows “Manually enter API Key”. We take the explicit statement over the leftover line. We also didn’t find this on an Anthropic page in this check, so the quote above is OpenCode’s account.
Honestly, this one stings. You pay Anthropic $100 or $200 a month, and the subscription works in exactly one agent. Meanwhile OpenCode’s docs list ChatGPT Plus and Copilot as working with zero setup. Anthropic built a wall. That’s a business decision, it’s their call, and it’s the single biggest reason this comparison isn’t closer.
If you want Claude models in OpenCode, use an Anthropic API key and pay per token. The only Claude model on Go is Haiku 5.5.
Workflow differences
Only what the docs say:
- Providers: OpenCode uses the AI SDK and Models.dev to support 75+ providers and local models. Claude Code is Anthropic’s agent on Anthropic’s plans.
- Subscriptions you can reuse: OpenCode takes ChatGPT Plus, GitHub Copilot and GitLab Duo with zero setup. Claude Code takes any paid Claude plan or a Claude Console account.
- Editor: Anthropic has an official VS Code extension for Claude Code (VS Code 1.94.0 or newer), per its IDE integrations docs, checked Oct 20, 2026.
- Price history: our OpenCode price tracker logs Go plan changes. Claude’s plan maths lives on Claude Code pricing.
Here’s what I’d do
- Broke, curious, or both: install OpenCode and try the Console’s free models on a side project, not client code. Total: $0.
- Already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Copilot: point OpenCode at that subscription before you buy anything else. Total: $0 extra.
- You want Claude, a few sessions a week: Claude Pro at $20, or $17 a month on annual billing. Paying per token for Sonnet only wins if you’re light and disciplined.
- You want cheap volume and don’t need Sonnet or Opus: OpenCode Go at $10, and step up to Go Plus at $40 if you hit the 5-hour slice.
- Claude all day: Claude Max. An uncapped Opus API key is how you end up starring in the “This is fine” meme.
Torn between agents from two labs instead? Codex vs Claude Code covers that.
Hit OpenCode’s free limit? OpenCode free usage exceeded covers why it trips and how to fix it.
On OpenCode Go? OpenCode Go plan limits breaks down the per-model caps and what happens when you hit one.
Stuck on “1.18.0 or newer is required to use the free tier”? Here’s the OpenCode upgrade fix.
Choosing how to pay for OpenCode models? OpenCode Go vs Zen compares the flat monthly plan and pay-as-you-go.
Only want the free route? Is OpenCode free? covers what’s free, where the limits sit, and the commercial-use answer.
OpenCode users also hit a “Model not found” resolver error: OpenCode Model not found.
FAQ
Is OpenCode free? Yes, the software is free and open source; you pay your model provider, or use OpenCode’s limited-time free models, or buy the optional $10 or $40 Go plan.
Is OpenCode as good as Claude Code? We haven’t tested either, so we can’t rank them; OpenCode wins on model choice and price floor, while Claude Code is the only one that runs on a Claude Pro or Max plan.
Can I use Claude models in OpenCode? Yes, with an Anthropic API key at per-token rates (or Haiku 5.5 via Go), but not with a Claude Pro or Max subscription, which OpenCode’s docs say Anthropic prohibits.
What is OpenCode Go? An optional subscription, $10 or $40 a month (Go Plus), with per-model monthly dollar limits on a curated list of mostly open models, for single-member workspaces.
OpenCode vs Codex? OpenCode is a multi-provider agent and lists ChatGPT Plus as a zero-setup subscription; Codex is OpenAI’s own agent, included with ChatGPT Plus at $20.
Sources
- OpenCode providers docs (75+ providers, local models, /connect, Claude Pro/Max statement, zero-setup subscriptions): https://opencode.ai/docs/providers (verified 2026-10-20)
- OpenCode Go docs (Go $10, Go Plus $40, per-model limits, request caps, single-member): https://opencode.ai/v2/docs/console/go/ (verified 2026-10-19, re-verified 2026-10-20)
- OpenCode Console models docs (free models, training note, card fees, auto-reload): https://opencode.ai/v2/docs/console/models/ (verified 2026-10-20)
- Claude pricing (Pro, Max, Claude Code on paid plans, shared pool, limits): https://claude.com/pricing (verified 2026-10-19)
- Claude Help Center, monthly API credits for Max and Team: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/17154008-monthly-api-credits-for-max-and-team-plans (verified 2026-10-18)
- Anthropic Claude API pricing: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (verified 2026-10-18)
- OpenAI API pricing: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (verified 2026-10-18)
- OpenAI Codex pricing (ChatGPT Plus $20 includes Codex): https://developers.openai.com/codex/pricing (verified 2026-10-19)
- Claude Code docs, IDE integrations: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/ide-integrations (verified 2026-10-20)