Tracking Costs
Real-time tracking:
The status line shows current session cost:
Claude Code │ Ctx(u): 45% │ Cost: $0.23 │ Session: 1h 23m
↑ Current session costAdvanced tracking with ccusage:
The ccusage CLI tool provides detailed cost analytics beyond the /cost command (use /usage since v2.1.118):
bash
ccusage # Overview all periods
ccusage --today # Today's costs
ccusage --month # Current month
ccusage --session # Active session breakdown
ccusage --model-breakdown # Cost by model (Sonnet/Opus/Haiku)Example output:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ USAGE SUMMARY - January 2026 │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Today $2.34 (12 sessions) │
│ This week $8.91 (47 sessions) │
│ This month $23.45 (156 sessions) │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ MODEL BREAKDOWN │
│ Sonnet 3.5 85% $19.93 │
│ Opus 4.6 12% $2.81 │
│ Haiku 3.5 3% $0.71 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Why use ccusage over /cost (alias for /usage since v2.1.118)?
- Historical trends: Track usage patterns over days/weeks/months
- Model breakdown: See which model tier drives costs
- Budget planning: Set monthly spending targets
- Team analytics: Aggregate costs across developers
For a full inventory of community cost trackers, session viewers, config managers, and alternative UIs, see Third-Party Tools.
Monthly tracking:
Check your Anthropic Console for detailed usage:
Cost budgeting:
bash
# Set a mental budget per session
- Quick task (5-10 min): $0.05-$0.10
- Feature work (1-2 hours): $0.20-$0.50
- Deep refactor (half day): $1.00-$2.00
# If you're consistently over budget:
1. Use /compact more often
2. Be more specific in queries
3. Consider using Haiku for simpler tasks
4. Reduce MCP servers