Factory vs Claude Code
Factory documents its limits better than anyone in this market — three independent rolling windows, a free fallback pool, and prepaid credits that never expire.
Updated August 28, 2026 · Independent comparison — Factory, Claude Code are separate products.
Factory
Droid agents with rolling rate limits
Factory sells Droid agents at $20 Pro, $100 Plus (about 5x) and $200 Max (about 10x), and it has the most carefully documented limit structure in this comparison: three independent rolling windows at 5 hours, 7 days and 30 days, where hitting any one blocks new requests until that window rolls. It also has two published escape hatches rather than a silent downgrade — Droid Core, a free open-weight pool on separate limits, and prepaid Extra Usage credits from $10 that never expire.
Claude Code
Anthropic's first-party coding agent
Claude Code is Anthropic's first-party coding agent, running as a CLI, as IDE extensions and inside claude.ai. It is proprietary — the public repository is not OSI-licensed. It runs on a Claude Pro or Max subscription or on a pay-as-you-go API key, and it can be pointed at third-party models by aiming ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL at a lab coding-plan key from Z.ai, Alibaba or Moonshot. On a subscription its quota is shared with claude.ai chat, so conversation and coding compete for the same 5-hour and weekly pools.
Bottom line
Factory documents its limits better than anyone in this market — three independent rolling windows, a free fallback pool, and prepaid credits that never expire. Choose Factory if you want limits you can actually reason about: rolling 5-hour, 7-day and 30-day windows; choose Claude Code if you want Anthropic's own models in Anthropic's own harness.
Pricing
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Price/mo | Pro $20 · Plus $100 · Max $200 | Included with Claude Pro ($20) or Max ($100/$200); or API pay-as-you-go |
| Intro promo | None published | Via the Pro annual plan |
| Billing shape | Quota — three independent rolling windows | Quota on a subscription, or per-token on an API key |
Models & Context
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Models included | Leading frontier and open-weight models; catalogue documented separately | Claude family; third-party labs via ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and a coding-plan key |
| Context window | Not published | 200K on individual plans |
Limits & Overage
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Limits (5h / weekly / monthly) | Rolling 5-hour, 7-day and 30-day windows — hitting any one blocks new requests | Shared with claude.ai chat on a subscription; none on an API key |
| What happens past the cap | Droid Core (a free open-weight pool on separate limits) or prepaid Extra Usage from $10 that never expires | Wait for reset, upgrade, or enable usage credits at API rates |
| Parallel-agent friendly | Background agents supported; concurrency not published | Limited on a subscription — every terminal shares one pool |
Access & Lock-in
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Host agents & IDEs supported | Factory Desktop, CLI, SDK, cloud and local background agents, Droid Computers on Plus and above | CLI, IDE extensions, claude.ai |
| Gives you an API key | Partial — BYOK has a free allowance on all individual plans, then is charged per plan | Yes on the API path; the subscription itself does not mint one |
| Can drive a third-party agent | No — Droid is the harness | It is the harness — but the subscription cannot drive a different one |
| Payment / region friction | Not published | Cards; tax extra |
Verdict at a glance
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Background agents with a documented fallback instead of a hard cliff | The strongest first-party agentic coding harness |
Limit transparency
| Feature | Factory | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Windows published | Rolling 5-hour, 7-day and 30-day, each independent | 5-hour and weekly, not published numerically |
| Free fallback when capped | Droid Core open-weight pool on separate limits | None |
| Overage credits expire | No — Extra Usage never expires | Usage credits; Japan sees 6-month expiry from 2026-09-10 |
| Quota shared with chat | ✗ | Yes — claude.ai and Claude Code share one pool |
| BYOK | Free allowance on individual plans, then charged | Yes on the API path |
The Verdict
Choose Factory if...
- ✓You want limits you can actually reason about: rolling 5-hour, 7-day and 30-day windows
- ✓You want a published fallback — Droid Core, a free open-weight pool on separate limits
- ✓You want prepaid Extra Usage from $10 that never expires
- ✓Background and cloud agents, plus Factory-managed Droid Computers, fit your workflow
- ✓You want to start at $20 and scale to $200 within one product
Choose Claude Code if...
- ✓You want Anthropic's own models in Anthropic's own harness
- ✓You want a local CLI working against your real working tree
- ✓You want to point the agent at third-party labs via ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL
- ✓Claude Code's editing quality is the reason you are choosing
- ✓You already pay for Claude Pro or Max and the agent comes with it
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Factory and Claude Code?
Factory sells Droid agents at $20 Pro, $100 Plus (about 5x) and $200 Max (about 10x), and it has the most carefully documented limit structure in this comparison: three independent rolling windows at 5 hours, 7 days and 30 days, where hitting any one blocks new requests until that window rolls. Claude Code is Anthropic's first-party coding agent, running as a CLI, as IDE extensions and inside claude.ai.
How much do Factory and Claude Code cost?
Factory: Pro $20 · Plus $100 · Max $200. Claude Code: Included with Claude Pro ($20) or Max ($100/$200); or API pay-as-you-go. See the pricing table above for full plan details.
Should I choose Factory or Claude Code?
Choose Factory if you want limits you can actually reason about: rolling 5-hour, 7-day and 30-day windows. Choose Claude Code if you want Anthropic's own models in Anthropic's own harness.
1DevToolOne window, every agent you're paying for
Whichever seat wins here, you end up locked to one vendor's harness — and most of these subscriptions are contractually barred from driving anything else. 1DevTool runs Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cline, OpenCode and Gemini CLI side by side in persistent terminals, so you can put each subscription behind the agent it's actually licensed for and switch between them without switching windows. It adds an HTTP client, a 13-engine database client and an embedded browser too. One-time $29, no subscription.