Short answer: when you upgrade on claude.ai (Pro to Max, or Max to Ultra), the new plan starts immediately and you are charged immediately: one full month of the new plan, minus the value left on your old plan for the current period. Your billing cycle also restarts on the upgrade day. So the card needs “new monthly price − unused old plan” plus tax on it at the moment you click, and the later in the month you upgrade, the more you pay that day.
Written by the Pink Card team (pinkcard.cc). Rules are from three Claude Help Center articles (“How do I sign up for the Max plan?”, “Understanding your Pro, Max, or Ultra plan invoices”, “Request a refund for a paid Claude plan”) and claude.com/pricing, checked on 2026-11-01 (PT); they may change, so the official pages win. Charge data comes from cards we issued, 2026-06-01 to 2026-10-31 (UTC): 214 ANTHROPIC* CLAUDE SUB records, 83 successful charges totalling $7,951.77, with no customer details.
Current plans and prices (claude.com/pricing, checked 2026-11-01 PT)
- Pro: $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month on the annual plan ($200 billed up front).
- Max: $100 a month, 5x Pro usage.
- Ultra: $200 a month, 10x Pro weekly usage.
- The pricing page says prices do not include tax, which is why our cards see amounts like $105, $108.88 and $218.
How Anthropic calculates it
- Immediate: the Help Center says your Pro plan is upgraded to Max right away, and usage starts fresh on the Max limits, so you do not wait for a Pro limit to reset.
- New billing date: the billing cycle restarts on the day you upgrade and you get an invoice for the change right then, not at your next renewal.
- Amount: one full billing cycle of the new plan, less a prorated amount for the value remaining on the old plan. Anthropic’s own example: Pro to Max charges one full month of Max, less the unused value of the current Pro cycle.
- If the unused old plan is worth more than one cycle of the new plan (for example an annual Pro plan with months left), the excess is stored as account credit and used automatically on future invoices.
- “Applied balance” on an invoice means existing account credit paid part or all of it. Anthropic says it is not a new charge and not a discount.
- Subscribed through Google Play in the Android app? Different rule: you pay the full price of the new plan, and the unused value of the old one becomes extra days on the new plan.
What we saw on our cards: 4 charges that match the formula
We looked for two successful Claude subscription charges on the same card less than 28 days apart, the second one larger. Between 2026-06-01 and 2026-10-31 (UTC) there were 6 such charges on 5 cards; 4 of them, on 3 cards, are within a few cents of “new month − unused old plan” (times in UTC):
- Oct 11, 06:19: Pro $20.00. Thirteen minutes later, 06:32: $80.01. Almost none of the $20 had been used, so $100 − $19.99 = $80.01, a Pro to $100-plan upgrade.
- Sep 30: $100.00. On Oct 9 from 07:17 the upgrade was tried 7 times at $130.61 and declined; it went through on Oct 10 at 02:46 for $133.31. With about 9 days used, roughly $69.50 of the $100 plan was left; a day later, about $66.80. That is the $2.70 difference: waiting a day cost more.
- A card billed in pounds: Jun 17 £18.00 ($24.68), the next day £72.65 ($99.61), three days later £98.60 ($133.19). Working back from the amounts, the tiers on that account were £18, £90 and £180: £90 minus about £17.35 left of £18 is £72.65, and £180 minus about £81.40 left of £90 is £98.60. Two upgrades, both match.
- The other 2 do not match: one card paid a full $200 three days after $100, another paid $106.25 six hours after $20. We cannot see the checkout page, so we cannot say whether it was a different account, tax or something else; your invoice is what counts.
Declined while upgrading: usually the top-up had not landed
Two of those cards were declined 11 times in total while upgrading, every time with “The value is greater than the maximum single transaction value”, which on our cards means the charge was bigger than what the card could spend at that moment. Both were topping up and clicking upgrade at the same time:
- Oct 11: top-up paid at 06:23 UTC, 4 upgrade attempts at $80.00 between 06:24 and 06:27 all declined, top-up on the card at 06:31, upgrade succeeded at 06:32.
- Oct 9: two top-ups paid at 07:14 and 07:17 UTC, 7 attempts at $130.61 between 07:17 and 07:20 all declined, top-up on the card at 07:31; the upgrade was only retried the next day and cost $2.70 more.
After the upgrade
- Your renewal date is now the upgrade day each month. Check the balance a day or two before it.
- Monthly charges include tax. On our cards the $100 plan has been charged $105 and $108.88, the $200 plan $210, $218 and $220.
- Refunds: the Help Center says payments are non-refundable except as stated in the Consumer Terms or required by law. EEA and UK customers can get a usage-prorated refund within 14 days of purchase; iOS purchases can only be refunded by Apple. Moving from Pro, Max or Ultra to a Team plan cancels the individual plan automatically with a prorated refund for the unused part.
Max prices with tax and how much to keep on the card: Claude Max payment declined
All decline messages on a prepaid card explained: Virtual card decline messages explained
How long a top-up takes to reach the card: Prepaid virtual card top-up time
Top up the same card before you upgrade
- Open pinkcard.cc/en, click “Balance & Top Up” at the top, and enter the 16-digit card number and the 3-digit lookup code (the card’s CVV).
- Choose an amount (minimum $30) and pay with USDT on ERC-20 or BEP-20, USDC on ERC-20, or Alipay.
- Top-up cost: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5). $30 → $36.75, $110 → $120.75.
- Usually on the card within 5–10 minutes. The card number does not change, so Claude keeps billing the same card.
Already have a Pink Card? Enter the card number and lookup code to see transactions and top up
New card (disclosure: this is our product)
Pink Card is the overseas gift card built for AI subscriptions: a prepaid USD virtual card (Mastercard / Visa) for ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and similar services. It has no official relationship with Anthropic.
- Choose an amount on pinkcard.cc/en: presets start at $110 ($110, $220, $500, $1000), or enter a custom amount from $100.
- Pay with USDT on BEP-20 or ERC-20, or USDC on ERC-20. The card number, expiry, CVV and billing address arrive by email about 1–2 minutes after the payment confirms.
- Card issuance: $10 one-time, plus a 3% service fee on (card amount + $10). A $110 card costs $123.60.
- From the card balance: $1 per transaction (declined ones too, at most 3 declined charges per card per month) and $2.50 per month. Full fee table: pinkcard.cc/en/fees.
- Once the card details are emailed, the order cannot be cancelled, so double-check your email address before paying.
Chinese version (中文版，付款方式按中文站): Claude Pro 升级 Max 当天扣多少