Paste this entire prompt into Claude Code to estimate your workload cost across pricing tiers.
I need you to estimate the cost of a task I'm about to run, comparing three pricing scenarios.
Ask me to describe my task, OR let me provide token estimates directly.
If I describe the task, estimate based on:
- Number of files to read (avg 200 lines = ~4K input tokens per file)
- Number of edits to make (avg ~2K output tokens per edit)
- Number of agent turns (5-12 per agent depending on complexity)
- Thinking tokens per turn: low effort ~5K, default ~15K, high ~50K
- Number of parallel agents (if using teams)
Use these rates (Opus 4.6):
- Input: $15 per million tokens
- Output (including thinking): $75 per million tokens
- Prompt caching: reduces repeated input by ~30%
╔══════════════════════════╦═══════════╦══════════╗
║ Scenario ║ Cost ║ Savings ║
╠══════════════════════════╬═══════════╬══════════╣
║ Raw API (pay-as-you-go) ║ $X.XX ║ baseline ║
║ Max $200 plan (peak) ║ $Y.YY ║ ZZ% ║
║ Max $200 plan (off-peak) ║ $W.WW ║ VV% ║
╚══════════════════════════╩═══════════╩══════════╝
Max plan effective cost = (task capacity % × $200 subscription)
- Monthly API value ≈ $3,600 (20x Pro)
- Off-peak doubles effective capacity → $7,200
If the task does NOT require human input mid-run, suggest:
# Schedule for off-peak (adjust time to your timezone)
# This is a one-shot job — fires once then auto-deletes
claude cron create --once "0 20 * * *" "your prompt here"
If the task DOES require interaction, flag it: "This task needs human input — not suitable for off-peak scheduling. Consider breaking it into autonomous sub-tasks first."
raw_api_cost = (input_tokens × $15/M) + (output_tokens × $75/M)
max_peak_effective = (raw_api_cost / $3,600) × $200
max_offpeak_effective = (raw_api_cost / $7,200) × $200
savings_peak = 1 - (max_peak_effective / raw_api_cost)
savings_offpeak = 1 - (max_offpeak_effective / raw_api_cost)