Claude Max and Team now include $100 to $500 a month in API credits: how to claim them, what they cover, and the one-link trap

Since October 7, 2026, Claude Max 5x includes $100 a month in Claude API credits, Max 20x $200, and Team plans a pooled credit of $20 per Standard seat and $100 per Premium seat, capped at $500. Credits cover the API, Managed Agents and the Agent SDK, not interactive Claude Code, and expire each billing cycle. Here is how to claim them without linking the wrong Console organization.

If you pay for Claude Max or a Team plan, you have probably been leaving free API money on the table for the past 11 days. Since October 7, 2026, those plans include monthly credits for the Claude API, and nobody gets them until they link a Console organization. (Sources: Claude Platform docs, Claude Help Center)

Key facts:

Plan	Monthly API credit
Max 5x	$100
Max 20x	$200
Team, Standard seat	$20 per seat, pooled
Team, Premium seat	$100 per seat, pooled

Team pool cap: $500 a month. Anthropic’s example: three Standard and two Premium seats get $260. Discounted Nonprofit and Scientists Team plans earn the same rates.
Not eligible: Free, Pro and Enterprise.
Wait period: new subscribers can claim after 7 days on an eligible plan.
No rollover: credits expire at the end of each billing cycle, or monthly on annual plans.
No card needed: you don’t have to add a payment method to Claude Platform.

How to claim

On claude.ai, open Settings > Billing (Max) or Organization settings > Billing (Team). You need to be the Max subscriber, or a Team Primary Owner or Owner, plus Owner, Admin or Billing in the Console organization.
In the API credits section, pick the Console organization that should get the credits and link it.
Check the Promotional credits section of the Console billing page, then create an API key.

Choose carefully at step 2. Each plan links to one Console organization, each organization can take credits from only one plan, and you can’t change the link yourself. To move it later you have to contact support. Plans bought on iOS or Android qualify, but the claim happens on claude.ai in a web browser. (Help Center: Monthly API credits)

What the credits pay for

The docs list the Claude API, Claude Managed Agents, the Claude Agent SDK and the Playground as covered. Claude Code, extra usage in the Claude apps, and Claude on AWS, Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry are not.

There is one wrinkle. The Help Center’s Agent SDK page says the credits cover claude -p, while the platform docs say Claude Code is not covered. They also show the “Credit balance too low” message a Claude Code session prints when an organization holds only these credits. Test your own headless scripts before you count on the credits for them. Per the Help Center, you can also still run the Agent SDK, claude -p and third-party apps against your subscription limits.

Billing details that matter for builders

Included credits are spent before purchased credits, and auto-reload only watches the purchased balance.
Every API key and workspace in the linked organization shares one balance. Give each project its own workspace with a spend limit.
Linked organizations move up to at least the Start usage tier, or Build if the monthly credit is over $200. Credit spend doesn’t count toward higher tiers.
With no other credits left, API calls stop until the next refresh. Usage is never charged to your Claude plan.

For background on how Anthropic previously tried to meter SDK usage, see the paused Agent SDK billing change. If you are deciding where those credits go, the Claude Code daily driver guide and our Claude Code vs Codex comparison cover the subscription side.