Claude Cowork pricing and plans — what each tier unlocks — The Cowork Bible — Tinkso

TL;DR. Make plan selection mechanical, not guesswork. Default to Team plan once you have 10+ active seats. Within Team, mix Pro-level and Max-level allocations based on usage observed in week six. Reserve Enterprise for regulated functions or contractual data terms. The biggest pricing mistake is over-buying Max seats up front.

The four plans#

Plain-English summaries. Verify pricing at each review — Anthropic adjusts.

Free — Chat only, no Cowork. Useful for prospect awareness.
Pro (~$20/month per user) — Chat + Cowork + Code, individual subscription. The default for occasional users.
Max (~$100–200/month per user) — Same features, ~5× the usage envelope. For daily power users.
Team (per-seat, org-priced) — Org admin console, SSO, default no-training. The default for any deployment past 10 seats.
Enterprise (negotiated) — Region pinning, zero retention, BAA, contractual terms. Required for HIPAA / regulated functions.

The seat-mix decision#

Three short rules:

Default to Team plan once you have 10+ active seats.
Within Team, mix Pro-level and Max-level allocations based on usage observed in week six.
Reserve Enterprise for regulated functions or contractual data terms.

The per-seat economics#

A worked example for a 50-person mid-market deployment:

25 Pro-equivalent seats (occasional)
15 Max-equivalent seats (daily power users)
10 admin / governance / sponsor seats
Total ~£3,500–5,000/month depending on Team negotiated pricing
Plus a one-time implementation cost (Tinkso sprint or internal time)

Pricing varies; confirm with Anthropic directly.

What you don't pay for#

Often confused:

MCP connectors — usually free where official; community connectors free; custom-connector cost is implementation, not licensing.
Skills and plugins are part of the platform; no per-skill licensing.
Memory is included; no per-user storage charge.

Plan-vs-feature matrix#

Feature	Free	Pro	Max	Team	Enterprise
Chat	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Cowork	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Code	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Memory	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Scheduled tasks	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
MCP connectors	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
Larger usage envelope	—	—	✅	Org-pooled	Custom
SSO / SAML	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Admin console	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
Default no-training	❌	Opt-out	Opt-out	✅	✅
Region pinning / zero retention	❌	❌	❌	❌	Negotiable
BAA	❌	❌	❌	❌	Available

Verify rows at each monthly review.

Procurement notes#

For deployments past 50 seats, expect a custom Team contract; Anthropic does annual deals.
For Enterprise, expect 6–12 weeks of procurement, including DPA and BAA review.
For mid-market without a procurement team, pilot on Pro / Max for six weeks, then negotiate Team annual.

The total cost of ownership#

A real TCO has four lines:

License cost (per-seat × 12)
Implementation (Tinkso engagement or internal time)
Custom MCP / skill development (one-off per artifact)
Ongoing enablement (1–2 part-time FTEs at scale)

Most mid-market budgets in 2026 land at 1.5–3× licence cost in year one, dropping to ~1.2× licence cost by year two.

Tinkso's take#

The biggest pricing mistake is over-buying Max seats up front. Run Pro for the pilot, observe who actually hits limits, then upgrade selectively. Half the Max upgrades you would have done in week one turn out to be unnecessary by week six.