OpenCode vs Claude Code: What You Already Pay For Decides

OpenCode and Claude Code are both harnesses: the app you type a coding task into. The model provider that answers sits one layer below, and on 25 October 2026 Claude Code’s docs listed Claude plans, Anthropic Console keys, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud’s Agent Platform, Microsoft Foundry and LLM gateways, while OpenCode’s docs listed 75+ providers, among them Anthropic API keys, ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot sign-ins, and OpenCode’s own Go and Zen. In OpenCode vs Claude Code, the payment you already have decides between them before any feature does: a Claude Pro or Max plan works in only one of them, and a ChatGPT or Copilot plan works in only the other.

Every OpenCode fact below comes from opencode.ai’s docs, its Go and Zen pages and its GitHub releases, and every Claude Code fact from Anthropic’s docs at code.claude.com, all read on 25 October 2026. I build this site with the Claude Code extension in VS Code on Windows 11, and my Claude vs Claude Code guide covers that side, including what each Claude plan includes. Prices and model lists on both sides change without notice, so check the dates against the pages linked here before you pay.

OpenCode vs Claude Code at a Glance (25 October 2026)

Sources: the licence files in Claude Code’s repository and OpenCode’s repository, Claude Code’s overview and setup page, and OpenCode’s V2 intro and V1 intro.

Can You Use a Claude Subscription in OpenCode?

No: Anthropic reserves Claude plan sign-in for Claude Code and its own apps, and OpenCode’s providers page says Anthropic “explicitly prohibits” the plugins that used a Pro or Max plan in OpenCode. Here is each side in its own words, as read on 25 October 2026:

OpenCode’s V2 providers page lists sign-in steps for a ChatGPT plan and for GitHub Copilot and has no Claude account sign-in; Claude appears there only as a model ID routed through OpenRouter.

The routes to Claude models that OpenCode documents all bill per token or through OpenCode’s own plans:

• An Anthropic API key: run /connect, pick Anthropic, and paste a key from the Anthropic Console. A Claude plan doesn’t include API access, and my Claude Code API key vs subscription guide covers that billing split.
• OpenCode’s pay-as-you-go models (Zen), which list Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 among others.
• OpenCode Go, where Claude Haiku 5.5 is the one Claude model on the list.
• Amazon Bedrock or Google Vertex AI, both in OpenCode’s provider directory.

If the plan you already pay for is Claude Pro or Max, the plan’s usage only reaches you through Claude Code and Anthropic’s apps. When you run short on it, the four ways back from a Claude usage limit are the options Anthropic offers.

OpenCode vs Claude Code by What You Already Pay For

Each row below carries the sentence it rests on, read on 25 October 2026:

Anything billed per token, an Anthropic key or a cloud account, works in both, so pick the harness on install route, licence and surfaces.

Install Routes and Accounts, From Each Tool’s Docs

The V1 and V2 split matters for this topic: the sentence about Anthropic’s prohibition sits on the V1 providers page, and the V2 providers page drops it while still listing no Claude sign-in. On the Claude Code side, the CLI and the VS Code extension read the same settings files, and my Claude Code in VS Code vs terminal guide maps which features only one of them has.

OpenCode Go and Zen Pricing on 25 October 2026

For individuals, OpenCode sells two things on top of the free app (plus a quote-based Enterprise offer): a subscription (Go) and a pay-as-you-go model list (Zen, which the V2 docs file under OpenCode Console as “Models”). Both are optional: the Go docs call Go “completely optional”, and the models page says the same of the pay-as-you-go service.

OpenCode Go

The limits are dollar amounts of usage priced at each model’s listed token rates, and “Token pricing is the same for Go and Go Plus.” Each model allows 20% of its monthly limit in any five hours and 50% in any week. Go is for a single-member workspace: “A workspace with a Go subscription cannot invite members.” The model list “may change”, and the Go page shows the same $10 and $40 prices.

Zen, Pay as You Go

OpenCode’s models page prices each model per million tokens. A sample of the rows:

On top of token prices, “A processing fee of 4.6% + $0.31 is added to each credit purchase”. The Zen page adds that a refund is possible “if the charge was made within the last 14 days and you have not used the credits from that purchase”. For what the same Claude models cost from Anthropic directly, my Claude Sonnet vs Opus cost guide has Anthropic’s price table; I quote only OpenCode’s rates here.

One Worked Cost Line, Fee Included

A $20 top-up with the fee, then one session on Claude Sonnet 5.5 at OpenCode’s listed rates, with no cache hits:

1. Fee on $20: 4.6% x $20 = $0.92, plus $0.31 = $1.23, so the card is charged $21.23. The Zen page states the same figure: “$1.23 per $20 balance top-up”.
2. Session: 2,000,000 input tokens x $2.00 per million = $4.00, plus 200,000 output tokens x $10.00 per million = $2.00, for $6.00 of balance.
3. With the fee spread across the top-up, each balance dollar costs $21.23 / $20 = $1.0615, so the session costs about $6.37 on the card.

Cached reads bill at $0.20 per million on Sonnet 5.5 and cache writes at $2.50, so a session that rereads the same files several times can cost less than step 2. On Go, Claude Haiku 5.5’s $15 monthly limit works out to $3.00 per five hours (20%) and $7.50 per week (50%).

Is OpenCode Free?

Yes, the app is: it is MIT-licensed, and Go and Zen are optional. What costs money is the model provider you connect, unless you stay on the models OpenCode marks free “for a limited time”. The models page’s privacy notes say some of those free models may use collected data to improve the model during the free period.

Running OpenCode’s Models Inside Claude Code

The OpenCode Go row in the diagram also works the other way round. OpenCode’s Claude Code harness page, cited in the table above, sets Claude Code up against OpenCode’s gateway:

• Set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL to https://opencode.ai/inference/anthropic for pay-as-you-go, or https://opencode.ai/inference/go/anthropic for Go, and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN to an OpenCode key, in the env block of ~/.claude/settings.json.
• Use ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, not ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, and “If you are signed in to a Claude account, run /logout first so Claude Code doesn’t send that login to Console.”
• On Go, the models Claude Code can reach are Claude Haiku 5.5, Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4, MiniMax M3 and Qwen models; “GPT, Gemini, and most open models are not available in Claude Code yet.”

Anthropic’s enterprise deployment page documents the same ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL variable for LLM gateways. Which credential Claude Code uses when a gateway token and a claude.ai login are both present, and what you lose, is in the API key vs subscription guide linked above.

OpenCode vs Claude Code: Let the Payment Pick

The payment you already have is the first filter in OpenCode vs Claude Code, and the docs make it a short one:

• A Claude Pro or Max plan: Claude Code. OpenCode’s own docs say Anthropic prohibits using that plan in OpenCode.
• A ChatGPT Plus or Pro or GitHub Copilot plan: OpenCode, which signs in to both.
• An Anthropic key or a Bedrock or Google Cloud account: either harness; pick on install route, licence and surfaces from the table above.
• No paid plan yet: OpenCode on its free models, then Go from $10 a month if you start paying.

If OpenAI’s Codex is your third candidate, my Claude vs ChatGPT comparison sets Claude Code beside Codex, and a ChatGPT plan also signs in to OpenCode. Codex vs Claude Code maps what each ChatGPT and Claude plan includes, tier by tier. Recheck Anthropic’s legal page and OpenCode’s providers and Go pages before you switch: OpenCode dropped its Claude plan plugin in March 2026, and OpenCode says its model list “may change”. Start from the plan on your last card statement.