Manage costs effectively
Learn how to track and optimize token usage and costs when using Claude Code.
Claude Code consumes tokens for each interaction. The average cost is $6 per developer per day, with daily costs remaining below $12 for 90% of users.
Track your costs
- Use
/cost
to see current session usage - Anthropic Console users:
- Check historical usage in the Anthropic Console (requires Admin or Billing role)
- Set workspace spend limits for the Claude Code workspace (requires Admin role)
- Max plan users: Usage is included in your Max plan subscription
Reduce token usage
-
Compact conversations:
-
Claude uses auto-compact by default when context exceeds 95% capacity
-
Toggle auto-compact: Run
/config
and navigate to “Auto-compact enabled” -
Use
/compact
manually when context gets large -
Add custom instructions:
/compact Focus on code samples and API usage
-
Customize compaction by adding to CLAUDE.md:
-
-
Write specific queries: Avoid vague requests that trigger unnecessary scanning
-
Break down complex tasks: Split large tasks into focused interactions
-
Clear history between tasks: Use
/clear
to reset context
Costs can vary significantly based on:
- Size of codebase being analyzed
- Complexity of queries
- Number of files being searched or modified
- Length of conversation history
- Frequency of compacting conversations
For team deployments, we recommend starting with a small pilot group to establish usage patterns before wider rollout.
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