Short answer: Claude Max comes in two tiers, Max 5x at $100 a month and Max 20x at $200 a month. There is no annual option, and the price is before tax, so the actual charge is often $105, $106.25, $210 or $220. You pay it by card in claude.ai under Settings → Billing. When a Max payment is declined on a prepaid card, the card itself is rarely the problem: it is usually that $100–$220 lands in one charge and the balance is a little short, or a top-up was paid but had not reached the card yet.
Written by the Pink Card team (pinkcard.cc). Prices come from claude.com/pricing and the Max plan page, opened on 2026-10-21. Charge data comes from our own cards from 2026-07-23 to 2026-10-21 (the last 90 days, UTC), merchant ANTHROPIC* CLAUDE SUB. Fees are the live settings on 2026-10-21. Pink Card is not affiliated with Anthropic.
How much Claude Max costs
- Max 5x: $100 a month, about five times Pro usage.
- Max 20x: $200 a month, about twenty times Pro usage.
- Monthly only: the pricing page lists Max as billed monthly. Only Pro has an annual price ($200 a year).
- Before tax: “Prices shown don’t include applicable tax.” Tax depends on your billing address; 5% makes it $105 / $210, 10% makes it $110 / $220.
- Claude Code is included in Pro and Max.
- Refunds: Anthropic generally does not refund, with a 14-day window where local law requires it (EU, UK). After you cancel, Max runs to the end of the paid month.
What an upgrade from Pro charges
Anthropic says unused time on your current plan is credited toward the new one, so moving from Pro to Max 5x mid-month charges less than $100. On our cards we saw upgrade-sized charges such as $80.01 (successful), $87.58 and $87.67. That matches the proration rule, but it is our reading of the amounts; the checkout page shows the real figure. Keep money for the upgrade charge and, separately, for the full charge next month.
Real Claude Max charges on our cards
- About $100 (Max 5x): 10 successful charges on 8 cards ($100.00, $105.00, $106.25); 11 declines on 3 cards.
- About $200: 17 successful charges on 12 cards ($200.00, $210.00, $218.00, $220.00); 12 declines on 2 cards. Max 20x monthly and Pro annual are both $200, so the amount alone does not tell them apart.
- All Claude subscription charges of $75 or more: 38 declines on 8 cards, 32 of them because the balance or card limit was short (cumulative amount limit, maximum single transaction value, monthly transaction amount limit, insufficient funds).
- Five more were an expiry check failure and the fraud block that followed, all on one card, each 1–2 seconds after a balance decline: the merchant retrying, not a typo.
- Of the 27 cards that paid a $75+ Claude subscription, 14 were topped up (19 top-ups) and kept billing on the same card number.
Declined right after a top-up? Wait for it to land
A top-up is not on the card the second you pay. Ours are applied in two batches an hour and usually land within about 30 minutes. If you retry before that, the card still has the old balance and the charge comes back as “The value is greater than the maximum single transaction value”. On one card a $99 top-up was paid, a Claude charge of $80 was declined four times over the next three minutes, and the same charge went through one minute after the top-up landed. Each failed attempt also costs $1 (at most 3 failed charges per card per month), so check the balance first and retry once.
How much to keep on the card
- Each month: the taxed price + $1 per-transaction fee, plus the $2.50 monthly fee on the 1st.
- Max 5x at 10% tax: $110 + $1 + $2.50 = $113.50 a month.
- Max 20x at 10% tax: $220 + $1 + $2.50 = $223.50 a month.
- Check the balance a day or two before the renewal date and top up before, not after, the charge.
Top up the same card with USDT or USDC
- Open pinkcard.cc/en, click "Balance & Top Up" at the top, and enter the 16-digit card number and the 3-digit lookup code.
- Choose an amount (minimum $30) and pick USDT or USDC.
- Send exactly the amount shown on exactly the network you picked: USDT on BEP-20 (BSC) or ERC-20, USDC on ERC-20 only.
- The top-up usually reaches the card within about 30 minutes. The card number does not change, so Claude keeps billing the same card.
- Top-up cost: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5). One month of Max 5x, $110, is $120.75; one month of Max 20x, $230, is $246.75.
Already have a Pink Card? Enter the card number and lookup code and top up this card now ($230 prefilled, you can change it)
Pink Card fees (as of 2026-10-21)
- Card issuance: $10 one-time, plus a 3% service fee on (card amount + $10). Presets start at $110; custom amounts from $100.
- For Max 5x: a $110 card ($123.60) leaves only $2.75 after a $106.25 charge and the $1 fee, so a custom $130 card is safer: (130 + 10) × 1.03 = $144.20.
- For Max 20x: a custom $250 card costs (250 + 10) × 1.03 = $267.80 and leaves $29 after a $220 charge and the $1 fee.
- From the card balance after activation: $1 per transaction and $2.50 per month. Failed authorizations are charged $1 too (at most 3 failed charges per card per month).
- Top-up of the same card: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5), minimum $30. Full fee table: pinkcard.cc/en/fees.
- Pay for a new card or a top-up with USDT (BEP-20 or ERC-20) or USDC (ERC-20). The card details (number, expiry, CVV and billing address) are emailed about 1–2 minutes after payment.
Most charges go through, but some are still declined. If one is, check the reason in the transaction history before trying again, and cancel or downgrade Max in Billing before you stop using the card.
Pro renewal declined or your plan was downgraded? See: Claude Pro renewal payment failed
Paying Claude, ChatGPT and others from one card? How much balance to keep: One virtual card for multiple AI subscriptions
Thinking about annual plans instead? Annual or monthly AI subscriptions on a prepaid card
Chinese version (中文版，付款方式按中文站): Claude Max 怎么付款