Anthropic tightens usage limits for Claude Code – without telling users

Since Monday morning, Claude Code users have been hit with unexpectedly restrictive usage limits. The problems, many of which have been aired on Claude Code’s GitHub page, seem to be concentrated among heavy users of the service, many of whom are on the $200-a-month Max plan. 

Users are only told “Claude usage limit reached,” and given a time (typically within a matter of hours) when the limit will reset. But with no explicit announcement of a change in limits, many users have concluded that their subscription has been downgraded or that their usage is being inaccurately tracked. 

“Your tracking of usage limits has changed and is no longer accurate,” one user complained. “There is no way in the 30 minutes of a few requests I have hit the 900 messages.”

When reached for comment, an Anthropic representative confirmed the issues but declined to elaborate further. “We’re aware that some Claude Code users are experiencing slower response times,” the representative said, “and we’re working to resolve these issues.”

The change has been alarming for users, who received no advance notice of the changes and no guidance on what to expect going forward. One user, who asked not to be identified, said it has been impossible to advance his project since the usage limits came into effect. “It just stopped the ability to make progress,” the user told TechCrunch. “I tried Gemini and Kimi, but there’s really nothing else that’s competitive with the capability set of Claude Code right now.”

These problems have emerged alongside broader issues within Anthropic’s network. Many API users reported overload errors during the same period, and the company’s status page shows six separate issues during the past four days. Notably, the network still shows 100% uptime for the week.

While loading errors are commonplace, Anthropic’s new approach to usage limits has caused significant confusion among users, many of whom were unaware they were subject to usage limits. Part of the confusion comes from Anthropic’s pricing system, which sets tiered limits without ever guaranteeing a set level of access. The most expensive Max plan, priced at $200 a month, promises usage limits 20 times higher than a Pro subscription. The Pro plan, in turn, offers limits five times higher than the free plan. But Anthropic says the free user limit “will vary by demand” and does not set an absolute value. The result leaves users unable to plan around usage limits, since they have no clear idea of when their service will be restricted.

The $200 Max plan has been particularly popular among heavy users of the service, with some viewing the plan as unsustainable for Anthropic in the long term. The user we spoke to said the plan often allows him to make over $1,000 worth of calls (measured in API pricing) in a single day. As a result, he wasn’t surprised usage limits were becoming more restrictive — but hoped the company would communicate the changes more clearly.

“Just be transparent,” he said. “The lack of communication just causes people to lose confidence in them.”