Here are the questions people most often ask when starting with Claude. (As of May 2026. Pricing, policies, and features may change — verify important details on official pages.)
Is Claude free?
Yes, there's a free plan. Sign up at claude.ai with an email, Google, or Apple account and you can start right away without payment info. The free plan isn't a stripped-down demo — it's genuinely usable, including general chat, file uploads, Projects, Artifacts, Memory, and web search. That said, it has usage limits, and the top-tier Opus model is not available on the free plan. To use more, there's Pro ($20/month in the US) or Max.
Do I need a credit card to sign up?
No. A free account requires no payment info. There's no anonymous or guest mode, so you do need to create an account.
How is it different from ChatGPT?
Both are conversational AI assistants, but they're made by different companies (Claude = Anthropic, ChatGPT = OpenAI). Their specific strengths, models, pricing, and features keep changing over time, so it's hard to declare one strictly "better." We recommend trying both on the tasks you actually do — writing, coding, document analysis — and comparing. One characteristic of Claude is that it takes text and image input and produces text output (it has no native image, audio, or video generation).
Does it work well in Korean (and other languages)?
Yes, Claude can converse in many languages, including Korean. Ask in a given language and it answers in that language. As with any AI language model, there can be factual errors with proper nouns, very recent information, or specialized fields, so cross-check important details against sources.
Which model should I choose?
There are three current models (as of May 2026).
- Opus 4.7 — the most capable; complex reasoning and coding
- Sonnet 4.6 — balanced performance and cost; a solid default for most tasks
- Haiku 4.5 — fastest and cheapest; simple, high-volume tasks
If you're new, you don't need to agonize over the choice — the default model is enough for most tasks.
Are my conversations used for AI training?
Consumer plans (Free, Pro, Max) have a data-use toggle in settings, such as "Help Improve Claude," that you can turn on or off yourself. Check and manage its current state in your privacy settings. API and commercial use generally differ from consumer plans (e.g., not used for training).
Data and privacy policies can change and are described differently across sources. For the most accurate information, check the Privacy section of your Claude settings and Anthropic's official privacy policy directly.
Are my conversations safe?
Conversations are saved to your account and removed from your chat history when you delete them. Still, it's safest not to enter sensitive personal or confidential information (passwords, card numbers, others' personal data) into any AI service. For details like retention periods and deletion handling, check the privacy settings above and the official docs.
Can Claude create images?
Claude is a model that produces text output, so it doesn't directly generate photo-like images. However, it can read and understand images (analyzing uploaded images), and it can create visual outputs in forms like code, SVG, and diagrams (Mermaid) via Artifacts.
How can a developer call it from code?
Use the API. Get a key at platform.claude.com and make calls; this is billed by token usage, separate from a Pro/Max subscription. See the "Getting Started with the Claude API" guide for details.
This FAQ is for general guidance only. Pricing, policies, and features may change per Anthropic's policies, and usingclaude.com is not an official Anthropic site. Verify the latest information on official pages (claude.ai, anthropic.com) before making important decisions.