Claude Guide
Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant designed to be helpful, harmless, and honest. It excels at nuanced conversations, long-form content, and thoughtful analysis.
What Makes Claude Different?
Key Strengths
- Massive Context: Up to 1 million tokens for enterprise, 200k standard.
- Computer Use: Can control computers to perform complex multi-step tasks (Agentic capabilities).
- Deep Research: New capability to browse and synthesize vast amounts of info.
- "Effort" Parameter: Control how much "thinking" time the model spends on a task.
- Safety: Industry-leading constitutional AI safety guardrails.
When to Choose Claude Over ChatGPT
- Writing that requires nuance and depth
- Analyzing long documents (reports, contracts, research papers)
- Tasks requiring careful instruction following
- Complex reasoning and analysis
- When you need a more conversational, less "AI-like" tone
Getting Started
1. Create an Account
- Visit claude.ai
- Sign up with email or Google
- Verify your phone number
- Start chatting with Claude (free tier has limitations)
2. Available Models
- Claude 4.5 Haiku: Released Oct 2025. Blazing fast, designed for high-volume tasks.
- Claude 4.5 Sonnet: Released Sep 2025. The perfect balance of intelligence and speed.
- Claude 4.5 Opus: Released Nov 2025. The most capable model for deep research and complex coding.
Best Practices
1. Provide Clear Context
Claude responds well to detailed context and specific instructions.
Example
"I'm writing a blog post about sustainable fashion for millennials. The tone should be informative but casual. Please help me create an outline with 5 main sections, each with 3-4 subsections. Focus on actionable tips rather than theory."
2. Use Document Uploads
Claude can analyze PDFs, text files, and other documents. Upload files and ask Claude to:
- Summarize key points
- Extract specific information
- Compare multiple documents
- Answer questions about the content
3. Leverage the Long Context Window
Unlike most AI tools, Claude can maintain context over very long conversations. Use this for:
- Iterative editing of long documents
- Book or screenplay writing
- Complex project planning with many details
4. Ask for Structured Output
Claude is excellent at formatting responses. Request specific structures:
"Please provide this information as a markdown table with columns for Name, Price, and Key Features"
Best Use Cases
Writing & Editing
- Long-form content (blog posts, articles, essays)
- Creative writing (stories, scripts, poetry)
- Professional documents (reports, proposals)
- Editing and improving existing text
Research & Analysis
- Analyzing research papers and academic texts
- Legal document review
- Comparative analysis of multiple sources
- Literature reviews and summaries
Business & Strategy
- Market research and competitive analysis
- Strategic planning and brainstorming
- Business plan development
- SWOT analysis
Claude vs ChatGPT
| Feature | Claude | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | Up to 200K tokens | 8K-128K tokens |
| Instruction Following | Excellent | Very Good |
| Coding | Good | Excellent |
| Creative Writing | Excellent | Very Good |
| Document Analysis | Excellent | Good |
| Free Tier | Limited | Yes (GPT-3.5) |
| Plugins/Extensions | No | Yes (GPT-4) |
Pro Tips
- Use projects: Create separate conversations for different topics to maintain context
- Attach reference materials: Upload style guides, previous work, or research materials
- Request thinking out loud: Ask Claude to show its reasoning process for complex problems
- Iterate with feedback: Claude responds well to "actually, can you make it more..." adjustments
- Use XML tags: For complex prompts, structure your input with tags like
<context>,<task>,<format>
Limitations
Keep in Mind
- Knowledge cutoff varies by model (typically early 2024)
- No internet access or plugins
- Can be overly cautious with refusing requests
- Free tier has message limits
- Sometimes verbose—may need to ask for conciseness
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Limited messages per day, Claude 3 Sonnet |
| Claude Pro | $20/month | 5x more usage, priority access, access to all models |
| API Access | Pay per token | For developers, usage-based pricing |
Additional Resources
Ready to try Claude?
Head over to claude.ai and see how it handles your specific use cases.