Ampcode pricing now has a $0 tier that covers the agent itself. Since 13 September 2026 Amp charges no fee when you run it on your own machine with your own model plan or API key, and since 10 October that plan can be Claude Pro or Max through a new Claude Code mode. You pay Amp for two things: orbs (its cloud machines, billed by the minute) and model usage you route through Amp credits instead of a subscription.
I read every price below on ampcode.com and claude.com on 12 October 2026. I have not run Amp's Claude Code mode or an orb myself, so this post covers cost and plan rules, with no verdict on output quality. For a month of hands-on use from earlier this year, read Should You Use Ampcode for Production Code?, with one warning: its pricing section describes the ad-supported $10 a day grant, which Amp has since removed.
Amp's free tier covers the agent and leaves compute and tokens to you
Amp lists five plans. The table carries Amp's own wording for the allowances.
| Tier | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $0 | All product features, pay-as-you-go orbs, free use of your own runners, your ChatGPT, Claude or other subscriptions, BYOK with no Amp token fees |
| Megawatt | $20/month | 45,000 minutes of "orbin' time" plus included model credits |
| Gigawatt | $200/month | 480,000 minutes of orbin' time, plus access to the largest orb size |
| Teams | No extra charge | Shared threads, pooled credits, SAML/OIDC SSO once one member pays for a tier |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | SCIM, audit logs, IP allowlisting, pooled credits only |
Students and teachers get Megawatt for $10 a month. Paid allowances reset each billing month and do not roll over. Credits you buy on top expire 12 months after purchase.
Amp's pricing page does not say how many dollars of model credit Megawatt and Gigawatt include. The 13 September announcement says Megawatt members get a 60% discount on their Amp usage on average and Gigawatt members 65%. I could not turn that into a dollar figure, so the cost table below leaves it out.
Our own Ampcode listing records the same three prices, checked on 18 September 2026.
Claude Code mode runs on your Claude plan with three features switched off
Pick Mode > Claude Code when you start a thread and Amp asks you to link a Claude Pro or Max subscription. Under the hood Amp swaps its own agent for the Claude Agent SDK and keeps its own features around it: orbs, runners, thread sharing, portals and thread-to-thread messaging.
The docs list what you give up and what still costs Amp credits:
- Plan mode, the todo tool and notebook editing are disabled.
- Amp's Oracle, Librarian and Illustrator subagents are excluded, so they cannot bill you behind the Claude plan.
- The Painter image tool still bills Amp credits. Amp suggests adding
Do not use the painter tool.toAGENTS.mdorCLAUDE.md. - On a runner (your own machine), Amp uses that machine's Claude Code install and login. You need Claude Code 2.1.276 or later, and Amp strips
ANTHROPIC_API_KEYfrom the environment, so an API key will not work here.
The rule runs the other way too. Amp's own modes (low, medium, high and ultra) never draw on your Claude plan. Any Claude tokens those modes use come out of your Amp credits at Anthropic's API price, with no Amp markup for individuals.
Your Claude limits still apply. Pro is $20 a month ($17 a month billed yearly), Max is $100 for 5x Pro usage or $200 for 20x, read on claude.com/pricing on 12 October 2026. Amp's FAQ says your provider's limits still apply, so a Claude usage cap you hit in the terminal also stops Claude Code mode in Amp. Our Claude Code reset tracker shows when that window resets.
Orbs bill by the minute, from $0.08 to $2.13 an hour
An orb is a cloud computer that runs one Amp thread. Every size comes with 60 GB of disk.
| Orb size | CPUs | Memory | Price per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| a1.tiny | 1 | 2 GB | $0.08 |
| a1.small | 2 | 4 GB | $0.17 |
| a1.medium | 4 | 8 GB | $0.33 |
| a1.large | 8 | 16 GB | $0.66 |
| a1.xxlarge | 16 | 32 GB | $1.32 |
| a1.3xlarge | 16 | 44 GB | $2.13 (Gigawatt and Enterprise only) |
New projects default to a1.medium. Megawatt subscribers get a1.small for personal projects.
The idle timeout adds billed minutes after the agent finishes. Amp pauses an orb 5 minutes after the agent stops working or 20 minutes after you last touched the thread, whichever comes later. Send one prompt, let the agent work for 10 minutes and ignore it, and you pay for 20 minutes. Reply at minute 12, let the agent work 6 more minutes, and the orb runs until minute 32.
Opening a thread wakes its orb too, as does any authorized request to one of its portals. Turn on Orb Saver Mode in Advanced Settings if you browse old threads, and archive a thread to stop its orb at once.
Megawatt's 45,000 minutes come to 750 hours. Amp says larger orbs use the allowance faster but does not publish the conversion rate per size, so I can't tell you how many a1.medium hours that buys.
Amp and Claude Code each cost $20 a month on a laptop
Monthly totals for one developer. Model prices assume Claude Pro at $20. Orb costs assume 88 billed hours a month (4 hours a day over 22 working days) at Amp's standard rates. The arithmetic is mine.
| Setup | Amp bill | Claude bill | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code alone, Pro | - | $20 | $20 |
| Amp Hobby, Claude Code mode, your own runner | $0 | $20 | $20 |
| Amp Hobby, Claude Code mode, a1.small orbs | $14.96 | $20 | $34.96 |
| Amp Hobby, Claude Code mode, a1.medium orbs | $29.04 | $20 | $49.04 |
| Amp Megawatt, Claude Code mode, orbs inside the allowance | $20 | $20 | $40 |
| Claude Code alone, Max 5x | - | $100 | $100 |
On your own machine, the two cost the same. Amp adds its thread sharing, portals and multiplayer on top of the Claude Code you already pay for.
The bill moves once you run agents in orbs. At 88 hours, pay-as-you-go a1.small ($14.96) costs less than Megawatt's $20 and a1.medium ($29.04) costs more. Megawatt wins past about 61 hours a month of a1.medium or 118 hours of a1.small, provided its allowance covers those hours, which I could not confirm per size.
Amp's ChatGPT route works the same way, with gaps
Link a ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan and Amp bills OpenAI model usage to that plan instead of Amp credits. Some roles in Amp's modes run models your ChatGPT plan does not serve, and those keep billing Amp credits. Amp offers a "ChatGPT Only" preset that pins low, medium and high to OpenAI models. The ultra mode keeps Amp's own routing.
Web search, reading web pages, voice and Painter bill Amp credits on either plan. Orbs never come out of a ChatGPT or Claude plan.
If you are weighing OpenAI against Anthropic in the first place, Codex vs Claude Code on the $50 plan and ChatGPT vs Claude Code after a year cover that choice.
Amp has changed its pricing four times in a year
Amp's own news posts give the dates:
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | Amp added ads to Amp Free |
| 30 March 2026 | Amp removed the ads; most active users kept the $10 daily grant |
| 23 May 2026 | Amp paused or cut the daily grant for more users and older clients |
| 13 September 2026 | "Free Agent": $0 Hobby tier with your own compute and subscriptions, no BYOK fees |
| 10 October 2026 | Claude Pro and Max usable in Amp through Claude Code mode |
Treat any Amp price older than September 2026 as out of date, including ones you find on this site, and check ampcode.com/pricing before you commit.
FAQ
What is Ampcode?
Amp (at ampcode.com) is a coding agent with a CLI, desktop and web app. It runs threads on your own machine through a runner or in cloud machines called orbs, and routes each mode to models from several providers.
Ampcode vs Claude Code: which costs less?
On your own machine they cost the same, because Amp's Hobby tier is free and Claude Code mode uses your Claude plan. Amp costs more once you run orbs or use Amp's own modes, which bill Claude tokens at API prices. The Ampcode vs Claude page lines up the two listings.
Ampcode vs Cursor?
Cursor Pro is $20 a month with a $20 usage credit pool, Pro+ is $60 and Ultra is $200 (our listing, checked 22 September 2026). Cursor sells model usage inside the subscription. Amp's Hobby tier charges nothing for usage you bring from your own plan. See Ampcode vs Cursor.
Which models does Ampcode use?
Amp picks the model per mode and changes that routing as models improve, so check ampcode.com/models for the current list. You can pin a model per role in Tune Modes, and Claude Code mode lets you choose any model your Claude plan covers.
