Anthropic removes five-hour usage cap for Ultra plan subscribers

New tiers and naming changes

Anthropic recently updated its consumer pricing structure by renaming its two highest-tier plans. The previous Max 5x plan is now called Max, and the Max 20x plan has been rebranded as Ultra. These changes were announced alongside the removal of a significant usage restriction for the top tier.

The pricing for these plans remains consistent with their previous iterations. Max is priced at $100 per month, while Ultra costs $200 per month. Existing subscribers do not need to take any manual actions to be moved into these new categories as part of the rebranding.

In addition to the subscription costs, the pricing page now explicitly lists monthly Claude Platform API credits. These credits are bundled with the subscription, with the amount of credits provided being equal to the monthly price of the plan. This provides a clearer structure for developers who build applications while also using Claude Code.

Removing the five-hour cap

The most notable technical change for Ultra subscribers is the removal of a rolling five-hour usage cap. Previously, this limit restricted how much a user could interact with the model within a specific window of time. A demanding task, such as a large refactor or complex debugging, could quickly exhaust this allowance.

When users hit this five-hour limit, they were forced to wait for the window to reset even if they still had weekly usage remaining. This created a bottleneck for power users who needed to maintain momentum on large projects. By removing this cap, Anthropic allows for more continuous interaction during intensive work sessions.

However, this change does not increase the total amount of usage available to the user. Ultra subscribers still operate under a weekly allowance, which is listed as being 10 times the amount provided to Pro users. If a user exhausts their weekly limit, they will still need to pay extra for standard API rates to continue working.

Verification and fraud prevention

The removal of the five-hour cap is not immediate for all Ultra subscribers. Anthropic requires users to go through a verification process before the limit is lifted. The company stated that these checks are necessary to prevent fraud and abuse on the platform.

Verification is handled automatically by the company based on a user's payment history and account details. There is currently no way for a user to request an expedited review or manually trigger the verification process. Users who have not yet been verified will simply have to wait for the system to complete its check.

Once the verification is successful, Anthropic will send an email to the user notifying them that the cap has been removed. This ensures that the highest level of access is reserved for legitimate accounts. This move reflects a balance between providing high-performance tools and maintaining the security of the underlying infrastructure.

Impact on developer workflows

For developers using Claude Code, these changes specifically target the interruptions caused by session limits. If a user frequently hit the five-hour cap while they still had weekly credits to spare, the Ultra plan now offers a smoother experience. It allows for longer, uninterrupted sessions that can span across the entire weekly allowance.

This distinction is important for choosing between the Max and Ultra plans. While Max offers five times the weekly usage of Pro, Ultra offers ten times. The removal of the session cap makes Ultra more attractive for those who do heavy lifting in single sittings. It removes the need to pause and restart work due to artificial time windows.

If a developer already runs out of their weekly allowance before the week ends, the removal of the five-hour cap will not provide additional free usage. In those cases, the user would still need to turn on usage credits to continue at standard API rates. The change is specifically designed to improve the flow of work for those who have the credits but were being throttled by time.

Broader industry trends

Anthropic's move comes during a period of active adjustments across the AI industry regarding usage limits. Just one day before this announcement, OpenAI announced higher usage limits for its Pro and Business Premium subscribers. OpenAI also decided to maintain current pricing for its $200 Pro subscribers after facing pushback from customers.

The industry appears to be reacting to user feedback regarding the friction caused by restrictive caps. OpenAI also recently abandoned a plan to switch from token-based billing to flat per-job fees following developer complaints. These decisions suggest a trend toward refining how high-value users interact with models to ensure a more consistent experience.

Anthropic's specific focus on verification for the Ultra plan highlights the ongoing challenge of scaling high-performance AI. As models become more capable, companies must find ways to provide deep access to power users while simultaneously guarding against automated abuse. This balance will likely continue to shape how premium AI tiers are structured in the coming months.