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How to choose a subscription

Start small, match the model to your work, then pick the extras you will use. Open any step for our full reasoning.

Short answer

Just pick Claude Pro.

Right now it is the best at everything. Opus 5.5 takes the hard work and Sonnet 5.5 takes the small tasks, both for $20.

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  1. Start with a $20 subscription

    All the main providers offer a $20 subscription. Upgrade only when you keep hitting the limit.

    When is a bigger plan worth it?

    The main providers all sell a $20 plan with a real coding agent: Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro, and Cursor Pro. Start there even if you expect to use the agent heavily. Real work will tell you if the limit is too small. A bigger plan bought before then is money spent on headroom you might not need. This is how much usage each price level normally buys:

    • $20 - enough for one agent in a few focused sessions each week, or roughly one fully spent session most days. Start here.
    • $100 - one agent working hours most days. Move here when you repeatedly hit the $20 limit, though optimizing how you use the cheaper plan might also solve the problem.
    • $200 - several agents running through much of the day. Consider this only after a lower plan stops you from doing more work.

  2. Match the model to your work

    Our picks depend on what matters most to you.

    • Hard problems - Pick Opus 5.5 on Claude Pro. It does most of what Fable does, at $20.
    • The hardest problems - Pick Fable on Claude Max 5x when Opus 5.5 gets stuck.
    • Smaller things and simple tasks - Pick Sonnet 5.5 on Claude Pro. It is fast and very light on the limit.
    • Stretching your ChatGPT allowance - Pick Luna on ChatGPT Plus for small tasks when quota matters most.
    Which model fits my work?

    Claude Opus 5.5 is our first choice for a stubborn bug, a large refactor, or a difficult planning decision. In our use it does most of what Fable does on a fraction of the usage. It comes with Claude Pro at $20.

    Claude Fable 5.1 is still the strongest model for the hardest problems. We reach for it when Opus 5.5 gets stuck. It starts on Claude Max 5x at $100.

    Claude Sonnet 5.5 is now our model for smaller things and simple tasks. Give it a clearly defined task and it does the work fast on very little of the limit. It comes with the same Claude Pro plan as Opus 5.5.

    GPT-6 Luna is our pick for small tasks when preserving your ChatGPT allowance matters most. It uses a small fraction of the quota Codex's bigger models use.

  3. Pick the extras you will use

    Consider the coding app, IDE, and other tools included in the plan.

    • Claude Pro Our pick - Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 in Claude Code, our favorite CLI coding agent.
    • ChatGPT Plus - Luna for a long list of routine changes, cheap on quota.
    • Google AI Pro - Gemini in Google apps, storage and NotebookLM alongside your coding agent.
    • Cursor Pro - An agent inside your IDE with several models to choose from.
    What does each provider include?

    The coding model is only part of what you buy. If the model does not settle the choice, pick the product whose other benefits you will actually use.

    • Claude Our pick - Claude Code is the best CLI agent right now. Opus 5.5 runs on the $20 plan and does most of what Fable does. Fable starts at $100, but you don't really need it anymore. Sonnet 5.5 takes the smaller things and simple tasks. If you are unsure, pick Claude.
    • ChatGPT Plus - the choice for Codex. Luna is the cheapest on quota for high-volume small work, and you get every OpenAI model at $20. OpenAI's extra resets are getting fewer, so don't count on today's allowance lasting.
    • Google AI Pro - the broadest bundle: Gemini in Google apps, 5 TB of storage, NotebookLM, YouTube Premium Lite, and Home Premium. Buy it for the bundle, not the coding. We have no Gemini model we would pick, and the Antigravity agent is rough.
    • Cursor Pro - the choice if you want the agent inside your IDE and want to switch between models. OpenAI plans to leave Cursor on November 12, 2026.
    • Grok and Kimi - there is little reason to choose either for coding right now. Grok 4.7 is too slow for its capability, while Kimi's limits drain too quickly.

Still between two plans? Compare subscriptions puts our verdict on every rung side by side; the quiz runs these three decisions for you. Weighing one plan on its own? The plan pages ask "is it worth it?" of every plan we track.