Claude
Claude is Anthropic's assistant, particularly popular with developers and people who work with long documents. We'll start with the basic workflow, then look at its standout tools, and the plan choices currently available.
What is Claude?
Claude is a chat assistant built by Anthropic, a company founded by former OpenAI researchers. Like ChatGPT, you type in plain English and get a conversational reply that keeps track of earlier messages in the same chat.
Anthropic ships Claude in a few sizes, roughly a fast and cheap one for quick tasks and a larger one for harder problems. The chat interface at claude.ai picks a solid default, so you don't need to worry about which one to pick when you're starting out.
Getting started
- Go to claude.ai.
- Sign up with an email address or a Google account.
- Type a message in the box at the bottom and press Enter.
- Reply in the same thread to keep the context going.
What Claude can do
Claude is strongest when a task needs careful writing, a large amount of context, or a visible working space. Here are the main features to try first.
Writing & editing
Drafts, edits, and rewrites, usually with a bit more explanation of why a change was made.
Coding help
Writing functions, debugging, and working through a codebase step by step.
return statement at the end of the loop, so the function falls through without sending anything back. Paste the code and I can point to the exact line.File & image analysis
Upload a PDF, spreadsheet, or photo and ask questions about it.
Artifacts
Code, documents, and mini web pages open in a separate preview panel next to the chat, so you can see the result while you keep talking.
Projects
Group related chats and reference files together, with instructions that apply to every chat inside.
Web search
Claude can search the web for current information and link to where it found it.
Style controls
Switch between Concise, Explanatory, Formal, and other response styles without rewriting your prompt.
Same question, different style: "Explanatory" gives you the reasoning and a bit of teaching alongside the answer, while "Concise" skips straight to the point.
Claude Code
A terminal tool for larger coding projects: reading a whole repo, making edits, and running tests. QList has a full course on it in the Master Claude Course.
This becomes more useful once you want to work with Claude inside a real codebase instead of only using the browser chat.
Pricing tiers
Anthropic adjusts pricing and limits periodically, so check the official pricing page before you subscribe. The current options are broadly divided like this:
- · A daily message limit
- · Access to file uploads
- · Good for trying it out
- · Much higher usage limits
- · Access to larger models
- · Extended thinking for harder problems
- · Shared workspace for a team
- · Admin and security controls
- · Data excluded from model training
Claude vs. ChatGPT
Both are strong general-purpose assistants, and plenty of people keep both open. A rough way to think about the split: ChatGPT ships more built-in tools by default (image generation, voice mode, a plugin-style GPT store). Claude tends to write longer, more careful answers and its Artifacts panel makes it easy to see code or documents rendered as you go.
If you're just starting out, either one is a fine first stop. Try the same question in both and see which style of answer you prefer.
Where Claude stands out
Claude is the second stop in this AI Tools Course, right after ChatGPT. Up next is Gemini, then Perplexity, DeepSeek, Copilot, Grok, and Meta AI, followed by app builders, image tools, and video/audio tools.
What's Next
Next up: Gemini, Google's assistant built into Search, Docs, and Android.