Pick Enterprise if you need more than 150 seats or Enterprise-only controls such as audit logs, SCIM, and custom retention. Otherwise compare the two plans on a pilot's usage. Team charges a flat seat price with per-seat limits, and Enterprise charges a seat fee plus every token at API rates, so spend follows each person's use.
When you need this
- You are buying for more than a handful of people and must choose between Team and Enterprise.
- Some users hit Team limits every week while others barely use their seat.
- Security or compliance asks for audit logs, SCIM, or custom retention.
Evaluation criteria
Size
How many seats do you need?
Look forTeam for 2 to 150 seats; Enterprise from 20 seats self-serve (USD, credits bought up front) or 50 sales-assisted (invoiced monthly in arrears). Above 150, Enterprise is the only plan.
Usage spread
Do a few people use most of the capacity?
Look forOn Team, Standard seats carry 1.25x Pro usage and Premium 6.25x, each with a weekly limit, and heavy users move to Premium. Enterprise has no per-seat allowance, so heavy users cost more and light users cost little beyond the seat.
Price per seat
What does a typical user cost per month?
Look forTeam Standard US$25 monthly or US$20 billed annually, Premium US$125 or US$100; Enterprise US$20 per seat billed annually plus usage at API rates. There is no Team seat with Max 20x's allowance, so a Max 20x user can cost more on Team.
Controls
Which controls do you need on day one?
Look forTeam includes SSO, domain verification, central billing, connector controls, usage analytics, and spend caps. Enterprise adds SCIM, audit logs, the Compliance API, custom retention, role-based access, IP allowlisting, HIPAA readiness, and US-only inference at 1.1x API rates.
Spend limits
Where can you cap spend?
Look forTeam: usage credits with an organization spend limit and per-user limits. Enterprise: organization, group, and user limits, plus pooled group budgets in beta; when self-serve credits run out, usage stops for the whole organization.
Fable access
Do your users need Fable models?
Look forFable 5 and 5.1 run on usage credits on Team Standard seats and use up to 50% of weekly limits on Premium seats. On usage-based Enterprise they bill at API rates.
Questions to ask vendors
- What did our pilot users consume per week, and how many hit a limit?
- Do we need audit logs or SCIM now, or within the contract term?
- Who funds and monitors the Enterprise credit balance, and what happens when it runs out?
- Are we on a legacy Enterprise seat type that moves to the single Enterprise seat at renewal?
Red flags
- Choosing Enterprise without group or user spend limits, so one team's Cowork use drains the shared balance.
- Buying Premium seats for everyone before measuring usage.
- Leaving extra usage uncapped on Team, so limits never prompt a seat review.
- Assuming Enterprise retention settings cover Claude Design and Claude Tag.
Products in this piece
Sources
- Official documentation
- 10
- Public source
- 4
- Claude pricing
- Claude Help Center: What is the Team plan?
- Claude Help Center: How is my Team plan bill calculated?
- Claude Help Center: What is the Enterprise plan?
- Claude Help Center: How am I billed for my Enterprise plan?
- Claude Help Center: Claude Enterprise consumption guide
- Claude Help Center: Manage usage credits for Team and seat-based Enterprise plans
- Claude Help Center: Manage groups and group spend limits on Enterprise plans
- Claude Help Center: Claude Fable models on your plan
- Claude Help Center: Configure custom data retention controls for Enterprise plans
- Hacker News comment on assigning Max plans by usage over Team seats (Mar 10, 2026)
- Hacker News comment on a Fortune 100 company's Claude Enterprise evaluation (Dec 17, 2025)
- Hacker News comment on Enterprise-only controls after the Team minimum fell to two seats (Jul 27, 2026)
- Hacker News comment on Claude for Excel driving a finance company's Enterprise purchase (Apr 15, 2026)