Do You Pay Per Run for a Custom Claude Code Skill?
A custom skill costs $250 once and $0 per run to us. Add the $20-a-month Claude plan it runs on and year one is $490, against $2,600 for a chore that eats 1 hour a week at $50 an hour.
- The build: $250, once, after you agree the written scope.
- Per run, to us: $0. The skill makes no calls to our servers.
- Your running cost: your own Claude plan, $20 a month for Claude Pro at Anthropic's listed price.
- Year one: $250 + $240 = $490, against $2,600 for the chore by hand at $50 an hour.
- The check: the calculator below runs it on your own rate.
Do you pay per run for a Claude Code skill?
Not to us. You pay $250 once for the build, and every run after that happens on your own computer.
The only bill that repeats is the Claude plan or API key the skill runs through, and Anthropic sends that one, not us.
↓
💻 The skill runs on your own computer
↓
🧾 The run counts against your own Claude plan or API key
↓
✅ Godmode bills $0 for it
Where each dollar goes
Five costs, and only one of them is ours. It is paid once.
| Cost | Who is paid | How often | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| The build | Godmode | Once, after you agree the scope | $250 |
| Claude plan | Anthropic | Monthly | $20 (Claude Pro, listed price) |
| Tool accounts | Each tool's vendor | Whatever they charge | Depends on the tool |
| Hosting | Nobody | Never | $0 |
| Per-run fee | Nobody | Never | $0 |
Think of a kettle. You buy it once, and each boil costs a little electricity from the power company, not from the kettle maker. The $250 is the kettle, and your Claude plan is the power bill you would already be paying.
Your year-one cost, on your own numbers
Change any box. The result updates as you type, and nothing you enter leaves this page.
What is inside the $250, and what is not
The fixed price covers one skill on your own machine. These are the cases that move the bill.
Inside the $250
- One skill or one script
- Runs on your own machine
- Tools you already have an account for
Quoted separately
- Hosted apps or servers
- Several connected skills
- Ongoing maintenance
Check your own running cost in four steps
Do this before you pay anyone anything.
- Write down what an hour of your time is worth, honestly.
- Time the chore once, then multiply by how often it happens in a year.
- Add $250 plus 12 months of your Claude plan, or $0 for the plan if you already pay.
- If the chore costs more than that, send a free brief for the $250 build and get a written scope first.
Quick answers
Do you pay per run for a Claude Code skill?
Not to us. The build is $250 once, and the skill makes no calls to our servers. Your runs go through your own Claude plan or API key, which Anthropic bills.
What does it cost to run a custom skill each month?
Your Claude plan, which is $20 a month for Claude Pro at Anthropic's listed price, plus any accounts the tools need. If you already pay for Claude Code, the extra cost is $0.
Is there a hosting or licence fee?
No. It runs on your computer with your own accounts, and nothing is hosted by us.
What is the year-one cost against a weekly chore?
At $50 an hour, a 1-hour weekly chore costs $2,600 a year by hand. The build plus a $20 plan is $250 plus $240, which is $490.
What is quoted separately?
Hosted apps or servers, several connected skills, and ongoing maintenance are outside the $250 and get a separate quote.
Sources for the facts above: the $250 fixed price, the free written scope, the $0 hosting, the fact that the skill makes no calls to our servers, the Claude Pro price of $20 a month at Anthropic's listed price, and the list of what is quoted separately are all on what you need to run a custom Claude Code skill. Every other number is arithmetic on figures you supply: the $50 an hour and 1 hour a week are example inputs, not measurements of anyone's real rate.
Related: the cheapest way to automate a repeat task and how many hours a skill actually saves.