Anthropic is implementing new weekly rate limits for its Claude Code AI tool, effective August 28, for Pro and Max subscribers. The move targets excessive usage, such as running the tool 24/7, and policy violations like account sharing. Anthropic says the change affects less than 5% of users and is necessary to maintain service reliability amid high demand and computational constraints.
Rate Limit Announcement & Details
- ▪These new weekly limits supplement existing usage caps that reset every five hours.
- ▪Anthropic is introducing new weekly rate limits for its Claude Code service, effective August 28.
- ▪The policy introduces two new weekly limits: one for overall usage and another specifically for the Claude Opus 4 model.
- ▪The new limits apply to subscribers of the $20/month Pro plan and the $100 and $200/month Max plans.
Justification for New Limits
- ▪The rate limits are intended to curb subscribers running Claude Code "continuously in the background, 24/7."
- ▪The policy also aims to stop users from sharing accounts and reselling access, which violates Anthropic's terms.
- ▪Anthropic estimates the new limits will affect less than 5% of its subscribers based on current usage patterns.
- ▪One user on a $200 plan reportedly consumed "tens of thousands in model usage," highlighting extreme usage cases.
Subscriber Plan Impact
- ▪Subscribers on Max plans can purchase additional usage at standard API rates if they exceed the new weekly limits.
- ▪Pro plan subscribers ($20/month) can expect 40 to 80 hours of weekly Sonnet 4 usage.
- ▪The $100/month Max plan provides 140 to 280 hours of Sonnet 4 and 15 to 35 hours of Opus 4 weekly.
Industry Context & Precedent
- ▪Anthropic has previously stated it is constrained by computational resources, a common challenge for AI model providers.
- ▪Other AI coding platforms, including Cursor (Anysphere) and Replit, also revised their pricing plans in June to address usage concerns.
Service Reliability & User Reaction
- ▪The announcement drew criticism from some developers who felt it unfairly punishes power users for the actions of a few.
- ▪In the month prior to the announcement, Claude Code experienced at least seven partial or major outages.
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