Anthropic and Claude: The AI Provider with a Safety Focus, Explained
Anyone looking into artificial intelligence today will almost automatically come across two names: OpenAI with ChatGPT and Anthropic with Claude. While ChatGPT usually plays the leading role in the media, Claude has made a name for itself especially among people who work a lot with texts, contracts, spreadsheets or complex follow-up questions – for example in administration, customer service or small businesses. Anyone who wants to understand who they are actually entrusting their data and requests to when chatting with Claude should take a look at the company behind the product – explained simply, as part of our overview of AI models compared.
Who is Anthropic? From a safety idea to a billion-dollar company
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by the siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, together with other former OpenAI employees. The starting point was a certain concern: the founders were convinced that very capable AI systems need to be developed with greater caution than they believed was common practice at the time. Instead of speed at any price, safety was meant to be a core part of the company culture from the very beginning.
This origin story is still noticeable today. Anthropic describes itself not merely as a technology company but also as a kind of research lab for “safe AI.” In practice, this means Claude is trained using a method known internally as “Constitutional AI” – a kind of written code of conduct with basic rules (such as “do not give harmful advice”) that the model is meant to follow with every answer, similar to a company guideline, just for a piece of software instead of employees.
A fast-moving company
Despite its cautious founding idea, Anthropic is now one of the most valuable young technology companies in the world and is financially backed by major partners such as Amazon and Google. The Claude model family is developed further at short intervals; by summer 2026, the fifth major model generation with the variants Haiku, Sonnet, Opus and the new, particularly powerful Fable is on the market.
The product: Claude as a chat and as an invisible engine inside other software
For most people, Claude is first and foremost a chat application, similar to ChatGPT: you type in a question or task, such as “Summarize this contract in five sentences,” and receive an answer. This can be used via the website claude.ai, a desktop app or a mobile app. Importantly, Claude also shows up in places where you don’t see it directly.
Claude.ai – the chat for private individuals and everyday office work
In the chat, you can write with Claude quite normally, upload documents and images, work on shared projects and, in the meantime, also have tasks carried out via a feature called “Claude Cowork,” in which the AI independently carries out several steps one after another without being asked again after each step – for example, sorting several files for a real estate agency or compiling a spreadsheet from various property documents.
The programming interface (API) – Claude in the background
Many companies build Claude directly into their own software via a so-called programming interface, or API for short. When a customer service chat on a website suddenly gives unusually smart answers, Claude is quite often behind it, without the name being visible anywhere. For end users, this means: you come into contact with this technology more often than you might think.
Pricing models and subscription tiers at a glance (as of August 2026)
Anthropic offers both free and paid access. The exact costs depend on whether you use Claude privately in the chat or integrate it into your own systems via the API.
| Plan | Target group | Price | Key benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Private individuals, getting started | 0 euros | Limited number of requests, standard model |
| Pro | Private individuals, freelancers | approx. 20 US dollars / month | Significantly more requests, access to more models, projects feature |
| Max 5x | Power users | approx. 100 US dollars / month | Five times the usage volume of Pro |
| Max 20x | Heavy users, small teams | approx. 200 US dollars / month | Twenty times the usage volume of Pro |
| Team / Enterprise | Companies | from approx. 25 US dollars / seat / month | Management of several user accounts, additional security features |
Anyone who does not use Claude directly in the chat but integrates it into their own application via the API pays according to the amount of text processed, measured in “tokens” (roughly word building blocks). Here too, there are significant price differences depending on the model:
| Model | Area of use | Price per million tokens (input / output) |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Fast, simple tasks at high volume | approx. 1 / 5 US dollars |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Everyday work, good balance | approx. 2 to 3 / 10 to 15 US dollars |
| Claude Opus 5 | Complex, demanding tasks | approx. 5 / 25 US dollars |
| Claude Fable 5 | Highest requirements, elaborate projects | approx. 10 / 50 US dollars |
Rule of thumb: the “smarter” and more elaborate a Claude model works, the more expensive its use – for simple routine tasks, the cheapest suitable model is almost always worthwhile.
Data protection and GDPR: what does using it mean in practice for Germany?
For many German users, this question is the decisive point, and it’s worth taking a close but understandable look. Anthropic is based in the USA, and by default requests are processed on servers in the United States. Anthropic does not currently offer its own, “native” data processing within the EU directly; anyone who, for legal reasons, depends on European server locations must take a detour via large cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud, which in some cases also offer Claude in European data centers.
For data transfers to the USA, Anthropic relies on the so-called Standard Contractual Clauses of the EU Commission – pre-drafted contractual clauses intended to legally ensure an adequate level of data protection when transferring data to a country outside the EU – which are embedded in a data processing agreement. This is a legally recognized approach, but it does not replace your own duty to check: anyone using Claude for business purposes, for example in a small business or an administrative office, should conclude a corresponding data processing agreement with Anthropic and document why the data transfer is necessary.
What does this mean concretely for a private individual or a small business?
- For purely private, everyday requests without particularly sensitive data, the risk is manageable, but should not be ignored.
- For business use with customer, personnel or contract data, a written data processing agreement with Anthropic is mandatory, not just a recommendation.
- In the paid business plans (Team, Enterprise as well as the API), inputs are, according to Anthropic, not used by default for further training of the models – this may differ in the free chat access, so it’s worth checking the current settings.
- Particularly sensitive data, such as customers’ health or credit data, should generally only be entered into a US-based AI system after careful legal review.
Rule of thumb: Claude can be used in a way that respects data protection law, but it is not automatically GDPR-compliant – responsibility for the data processing agreement and data minimization lies with the person or business using it, not with the provider alone.
Anyone who works professionally with particularly sensitive customer data in the real estate or finance sector and explicitly values infrastructure operated in Germany can now also find specialized, locally hosted alternatives such as Lukinski AI, which were developed for this particular use case – as a complement, not a replacement, for the large international providers.
Strengths and weaknesses of Claude in everyday use
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Very careful, detailed answers for texts and analyses | Image generation and creative image editing are sometimes stronger with other providers |
| Large context windows, well suited to long documents and contracts | Free usage is more limited in scope than with some competitors |
| Good reputation for safety-conscious, measured response behavior | No native EU data processing without a detour via cloud partners |
| Strong features for automated, multi-step work (Claude Cowork, API) | Currently less mature for pure internet research than specialized search assistants |
Who is Claude suited for?
Claude is particularly well suited for people who work a lot with texts.
- Case workers summarizing correspondence
- Property managers for utility bill statements
- Real estate agents drafting listing exposé texts
- Anyone working with long leases or reports
Anyone mainly wanting to generate images or do internet research with source citations will find more suitable tools elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions about Anthropic and Claude
Is Claude the same as ChatGPT?
No. Claude and ChatGPT are different products from different companies (Anthropic and OpenAI) that differ in response style, pricing and additional features, but use a similar basic principle.
Can I use Claude for free?
Yes, there is free access via claude.ai with a limited usage volume. For regular or extensive use, a paid subscription is usually worthwhile.
Does Anthropic permanently store my inputs?
That depends on the plan chosen. In business plans and via the API, inputs are, according to Anthropic, not used for training by default; in the free and standard private chat, somewhat different rules apply in part, which can be reviewed and adjusted in the privacy settings.
May a German business use Claude for customer data?
In principle yes, but only with a signed data processing agreement and a clean review of which data may actually be entered. For particularly sensitive data, it is advisable to have a brief consultation beforehand with your own data protection officer or a corresponding advisor.
Which Claude model should I try first?
For most everyday tasks, the mid-tier model Sonnet is entirely sufficient to get started. You can find a detailed explanation of the individual model versions and what each is suited for on our in-depth page on the Claude models.
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