Claude's $200 Ultra plan drops the 5-hour limit, but weekly caps stay
Anthropic killed the rolling session limit for its highest tier, letting developers run massive coding sessions without getting cut off.
Tools · Source: Crypto Briefing
What happened
Anthropic just overhauled its top-tier subscriptions. The $200 per month Max 20x plan is now called Ultra. The $100 per month Max 5x plan is now just Max. Prices stay exactly the same. Existing subscribers do not need to do anything to get the new terms. Both plans now also come with monthly credits for building on the Claude Platform. Max includes $100 in credits, while Ultra includes $200.
Starting October 30, 2026, verified Ultra accounts no longer face a rolling five-hour usage limit. You can run massive, uninterrupted prompts without hitting a mid-session wall. The Max plan keeps its five-hour window set at five times the Pro usage. New Ultra accounts will face a temporary cap until Anthropic verifies their account and payment history. This verification happens automatically to prevent fraud and abuse from proxy networks.
The name changes also drop the confusing multipliers that sparked a proposed class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs Karl Kahn and Solomon Smith sued in the Northern District of California, claiming the Max 20x name was misleading. The twenty times multiplier only applied to the five-hour window, while the weekly limit was strictly ten times the Pro plan. Anthropic product lead Mike Overell admitted the company could have communicated the limits better.
Key facts
- $200 — Monthly cost of the new Ultra plan
- 10x — Ultra weekly limit compared to the Pro plan
- $200 — Monthly API credits included with the Ultra plan
- October 30, 2026 — Date the five-hour limit removal started
Why it matters
This changes the rhythm of how you build with Claude. Before, a heavy coding sprint on a Tuesday would hit a hard stop after five hours. Now, you can burn through your allowance in one massive marathon. You do not get more total compute. The weekly limit remains exactly ten times the Pro allowance. Fable usage also stays capped at up to half of the weekly limit on both plans. You just get total control over how fast you spend your budget.
Anthropic is matching OpenAI on session flexibility at the exact same price point. OpenAI states its $200 ChatGPT Pro plan currently has no five-hour limit. Interestingly, OpenAI lowered its Codex allowance for ChatGPT Pro on the exact same day Anthropic made this move. By dropping the session wall, Anthropic removes a major friction point for power users. But letting users burn compute in massive spikes could test Anthropic capacity during peak hours, something they previously managed by tightening five-hour limits.
For builders
Uninterrupted deep work sessions
You can now run complex, multi-hour coding tasks without Claude cutting you off mid-thought. You pay the same $200 per month, but you control how fast you burn your weekly budget. Heavy users win back their focus.
API credits offset the cost
Both top plans now include monthly API credits for the Claude Platform. Max gives you $100 and Ultra gives you $200. If you actively build on their API, these credits effectively subsidize the entire cost of the subscription.
Temporary limits for new accounts
Do not buy Ultra expecting instant unlimited sessions today. New accounts face a temporary five-hour cap until Anthropic verifies your payment history to block fraud networks. You will get an email when the limit lifts.
My take
Anthropic finally fixed a stupid bottleneck. Cutting off a developer mid-session because of an arbitrary five-hour clock was terrible product design. They are not giving you more compute, they are just letting you use what you paid for on your own schedule. The API credits make this a no-brainer for actual builders.
Original reporting: Crypto Briefing. This is my rewrite and opinion.