Anthropic has quietly implemented more restrictive usage limits for Claude Code, affecting users across all subscription tiers—including the premium $200/month Max plan—without any prior notification or public announcement.
Highlights
- Unannounced Restrictions: Anthropic quietly imposed stricter Claude Code usage limits across all tiers, including the $200/month Max plan—causing frustration among power users.
- No Official Communication: The company offered no blog post, changelog, or warning. Users only discovered changes through vague error messages like “Claude usage limit reached.”
- Max Plan Capabilities Halved: Reports suggest Max users now get only 2–3 hours of Claude Code access daily—down from 5+ hours—sparking concerns of silent throttling.
- Unclear Usage Policy: Claimed limits (200–800 prompts per 5-hour session) are no longer aligning with user experience. Users report abrupt cutoffs and performance drops well below the advertised caps.
- Possible Infrastructure or Cost Issues: Frequent status page incidents and Reddit speculation point to backend strain or unsustainable operational costs as potential causes for the throttle.
- Transparency Lacking: The biggest user frustration stems from Anthropic’s silence. Many users stated that better communication would ease concerns more than the restrictions themselves.
Over the past week, developers and power users began encountering vague messages such as “Claude usage limit reached” with no indication of what thresholds had been exceeded.
These sudden restrictions have caused confusion, delays, and criticism—particularly from users who rely on Claude Code for time-sensitive or mission-critical development work.
Unexpected Restrictions Without Communication
The changes were not accompanied by a blog post, changelog, or update from the company. On GitHub and Reddit, multiple users reported hitting limits after only a short period of use, with some claiming their Max plan usage time dropped from over five hours to less than two or three hours per day.
“There is no way in the 30 minutes of a few requests I have hit the 900 messages,” wrote one user.
Anthropic’s only official comment so far has been brief. When contacted, a spokesperson said, “We’re aware that some Claude Code users are experiencing slower response times,” without elaborating on the cause or resolution timeline.
This limited response has left many users speculating about backend changes or silent policy shifts.
Silent Halving of Max Plan Capabilities
Heavy users have reported a noticeable decline in the performance of the Max plan. One GitHub commenter noted that they previously had access to over five hours of usage daily, which had recently dropped to 2–3 hours without explanation.
Another stated they hit usage limits in just 90 minutes, far below what the plan typically allowed.
“Claude code limits on the MAX plan have been cut in half silently… I code every single day and have never reached the five-hour limit. Since a few days ago, I can only get 2–3 hours before I limit out.”
This perceived reduction has sparked concerns that Anthropic is throttling access more aggressively behind the scenes, raising questions about the sustainability of its current pricing model.
Ambiguity in Official Usage Policy
Anthropic’s own documentation describes the Max plan as supporting 200–800 prompts per five-hour session, with a soft monthly cap of 50 sessions (approximately 250 hours). When that cap is approached, Claude switches from the Opus model to the less powerful Sonnet model.
However, users report that their experience increasingly diverges from this promise, with limits triggering unpredictably and at significantly lower usage thresholds.
Infrastructure Strain or Strategic Retrenchment?
Some in the developer community suggest the changes are not driven by policy shifts alone, but possibly by infrastructure constraints.
In the past four days alone, Anthropic’s status page has recorded six separate incidents—mostly affecting Claude’s API and performance—even while still reporting 100% uptime.
Comments on Reddit echo this theory, suggesting the system may simply be overwhelmed:
“I don’t think they were prepared for the absolute RUSH of use,” said one user, noting the surge in demand for Claude’s coding capabilities.
Others speculate that the Max plan’s high resource usage—at just $200/month—may have proven financially unsustainable. The equivalent API call volume some users reportedly receive could represent hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month in compute costs.
Transparency Remains a Central Concern
While the technical or financial reasoning behind the throttling remains uncertain, user sentiment is clear: the lack of communication has caused more harm than the limitations themselves.
“Just be transparent,” one user wrote. “The lack of communication just causes people to lose confidence in them.”
As of now, users continue to wait for clarity, hoping for either a public update from Anthropic or adjustments to restore the previous reliability of the Claude Code experience.
