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How to track your Claude Code usage: 7 tools compared
"Usage" means two different things — tokens you've spent (history) and quota you have left (live). Tools specialize in one or the other. Here's the whole landscape, including the built-in option, so you can pick by scenario instead of by GitHub stars.
Checked: July 13, 2026 · we build one of these tools, table stays honest anywayFirst: what the built-in /usage shows
Claude Code ships its own answer — run /usage in a session and you get your 5-hour and weekly percentages with reset countdowns (in older builds: /status). claude.ai → Settings → Usage shows the same on the web. That's the official baseline, and for occasional checking it's fine. Everything below exists because of what it can't do: it lives inside a session, shows one account, keeps no history, and never warns you first.
The comparison
| Tool | Format | Live quota (5h + weekly) | History / cost | Alerts | Multi-account | Codex too |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Built-in /usage | CLI command | Yes, current account | No | No | No | No |
| ccusage | CLI reports | No (log-based) | Excellent | No | Partial | Historical |
| Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor | Terminal dashboard | Estimated from logs | Good, with forecasting | In-terminal | No | No |
| CodexBar | macOS menu bar | Yes (59 providers) | Limited | Countdowns | Not a core feature | Yes |
| ClaudeUsageBar | macOS menu bar | Partial | No | Thresholds | No | No |
| SessionWatcher | macOS menu bar | Partial | Limited | Yes | No | No |
| AI Status Bar | macOS menu bar | Yes | No (by design) | System, 80/90% + burn-rate forecast | Yes, first-class | Yes, live |
Pick by scenario
- "How much did this project cost in tokens?" → ccusage. Retrospective analytics is its home turf.
- "I want a rich dashboard while I work, terminal is fine" → Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor. Mature, actively maintained, good forecasting.
- "I track a dozen different AI providers" → CodexBar. Breadth is its thing.
- "I run Claude and Codex, sometimes several accounts, and I just want to see the walls coming" → AI Status Bar. Two providers, every account in its own row, live percentages and reset clocks, a warning before you hit 90%.
- "I check once a day and don't want more software" → the built-in
/usageis genuinely enough.
FAQ
Why do log-based trackers disagree with /usage?
Local logs only see what happened on this machine in Claude Code. Your plan's budget also counts claude.ai chat and other devices, and Anthropic's metering weighs models and cache reads differently than raw token counts. Log-derived percentages are estimates; live tools read the same numbers /usage shows.
Do any of these tools consume my quota by polling?
No — usage numbers are metadata, not model requests. Checking them doesn't burn tokens or count against your windows.
What about Windows and Linux?
ccusage and Claude-Code-Usage-Monitor are cross-platform. The menu-bar options on this list, including AI Status Bar, are macOS-native.