Anthropic has dropped the rolling five-hour usage restriction for verified accounts on its top-tier Ultra subscription, renaming its consumer Max plans while keeping weekly consumption caps untouched, according to updates announced on October 30, 2026.
The adjustments touch the company’s highest-paying customers. They alter how heavy users pace their work without increasing total weekly volume.
Anthropic Renames Max and Ultra Subscription Tiers
The rebranding streamlines tier titles on the company’s pricing page. The subscription previously designated as Max 5x is now simply called Max, maintaining its price of $100 per month.
We’re renaming our Max plans: Max 5x → MaxMax 20x → UltraMax is still $100/month, and Ultra is still $200. If you’re a subscriber, there’s nothing you need to do.We’re also removing the 5-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting today with most existing… pic.twitter.com/9QR5ASBbeb
The former Max 20x tier costs $200 per month. It now carries the name Ultra.
Existing subscribers transition automatically to the new names without requiring manual intervention. Their monthly billing amounts remain completely unchanged.
Anthropic has eliminated the rolling five-hour usage restriction for verified accounts on its top-tier Ultra subscription. The Max plan continues to provide five times the usage of the Pro tier within every five-hour window and every week.
The newly named Ultra plan offers ten times Pro usage weekly. On the upgraded plan, users also receive $200 a month in API credits, compared to $100 on Max.
Anthropic just renamed its Claude Max plans and axed Ultra's 5-hour limit. Here's what you need to know.The Claude account announced the change on X today. Max 5x is now simply Max. Max 20x is now Ultra. Prices don't change, and current subscribers don't need to do anything.… https://t.co/BYgtoVpEeh pic.twitter.com/ITeOwW1gO9
Since 2025, the company has introduced weekly limits and made periodic adjustments to its tiers to curb excessive account sharing and manage service delivery during peak hours.
Verification Rules for the Five-Hour Limit Removal
The most substantial operational change applies exclusively to subscribers on the top-tier $200 plan. Anthropic scrapped the rolling five-hour session cap for verified Ultra accounts, allowing developers and researchers to execute long, uninterrupted tasks without timing out mid-session.
Phone verification completed at checkout operates as a separate procedure and does not automatically lift the temporary session restriction.
Newer Ultra accounts retain a temporary session limit until background verification completes. At that point, affected users receive an email notification confirming the restriction has been lifted.
Users can verify their current status under the settings and usage menu. The absence of a current session bar indicates that the account has been successfully cleared.
Ultra Usage Counts Across Multiple Claude Interfaces
Ultra is not an unlimited service. Consumption across claude.ai, Claude Code, and Claude Desktop counts against the identical weekly budget.
This means heavy users gain scheduling flexibility rather than additional raw volume. An engineer coding intensely on Tuesday will no longer face an artificial five-hour halt, provided their cumulative weekly usage stays within the boundary set for the tier.
According to documentation from the Claude Help Center, consumption levels depend on factors such as conversation complexity, selected models, features, and effort settings. The help documentation also notes that Anthropic retains the right to apply additional capacity limits at its discretion, reflecting pricing structures introduced since 2025.