All three run the same Claude models. What changes is how much of your computer each one can reach.
Claude Chat is the familiar chatbot. It answers questions and holds up well for back-and-forth strategic thinking. It is also the least capable of the three.
Cowork sits in the middle, and it is where we suggest starting. It is the same chatbot, except you give it a folder on your computer to work out of. It reads the files in that folder to find what it needs, and it can create new files there or change existing ones.
Claude Code does much more than its name suggests. It has far fewer restrictions, so it can take almost any action on your computer, usually asking permission first. It can open any folder, read or change any file, write small pieces of software, and put a working website online. That freedom carries two costs. It can delete a file or break a running site by accident, though this has become rare. It also has the least intuitive interface of the three, which some people find intimidating to look at.
There is one reason to prefer Chat. It uses up your weekly Claude allowance more slowly for the same task. Cowork and Code can both see folders on your computer, and they search through them on their own initiative, sometimes spending your allowance on irrelevant files. Chat does not sit in a folder, so it never does this.
If you regularly run out of Claude before your usage resets, send simple questions to Chat. Otherwise use Cowork or Code for everything.
Go deeper: Claude · What is an AI agent?
