Claude API New User Credits

Overview

Anthropic gives new Claude Console accounts free API credits for evaluation. Anthropic's official pricing documentation states: "New users receive a small amount of free credits to test the API." The exact amount, duration, and eligibility conditions are not published on any official Anthropic page.

What You Get

• A small amount of free usage credit on a new Claude Console organization.
• Access to the first-party Claude API, including current models such as Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, and Claude Haiku 4.5.
• The credit can be consumed by direct API calls, the Console Workbench playground, and Claude Code.
• No official figure is documented for the credit value, how long it lasts, or how it is granted.

Billing Notes

Claude API usage runs on prepaid usage credits, not post-pay billing. Developers buy credits from the Console under Settings > Billing, and only successful API calls are charged. Purchased credits expire one year from the purchase date and are non-refundable; expired credits appear in the invoice history. Because the free allowance is undocumented, treat it as a limited evaluation budget rather than a recurring free tier.

How to Get Started

1. Create an account at platform.claude.com.
2. Verify your email and complete any account verification the Console requests.
3. Generate an API key under Settings, then call POST https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages.

For larger or extended evaluation needs, Anthropic's docs direct organizations to contact sales.