Reference
Claude usage limits, plan by plan
In short
Every Claude plan limits usage over a rolling five-hour session that starts with your first message, and paid plans add a weekly limit that resets at a fixed day and time set for your account. Anthropic publishes multipliers, not message or token counts: Pro gives at least 5× the usage of Free per session, Max 5× or 20× Pro, and Team seats 1.25× or 6.25× Pro.
Claude's limits, plan by plan
| Limit | Free$0 | Pro$20/month · $17 billed yearly | Max 5x$100/month | Max 20x$200/month | Team Standard$25/seat/month · $20 yearly | Team Premium$125/seat/month · $100 yearly | Enterprise$20/seat/month + API rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-hour sessionRolling window that opens with your first message. Usage per session, relative to other plans. | Yes, varies with demand | At least 5× Free | 5× Pro | 20× Pro | 1.25× Pro | 6.25× Pro | No plan limit: usage at API rates |
| Weekly limitAcross all models. Resets at a fixed day and time assigned to your account. | None published | Yes, fixed weekly reset | Yes, fixed weekly reset | Yes, fixed weekly reset | Yes, fixed weekly reset | Yes, fixed weekly reset | No; admins can set spend limits |
| Fable 5 and 5.1A model ceiling inside the weekly limit, not extra room. | Not available | Usage credits only | Up to 50% of weekly limits | Up to 50% of weekly limits | Usage credits only | Up to 50% of weekly limits | Billed at API rates |
| Claude CodeTerminal, IDE, desktop and web: the same pool as your chats. | Not included | Included, same limits | Included, same limits | Included, same limits | Included, same limits | Included, same limits | Included, at API rates |
| Usage creditsKeep working past a limit at API rates, up to a monthly spend limit. | No | Yes, up to a cap you set | Yes, up to a cap you set | Yes, up to a cap you set | If your organization enables them | If your organization enables them | All usage is at API rates |
| Limit resets“Reset for free” refills the session or the week once, when Anthropic grants one. | Not documented | Occasional; one given on 22 Sep 2026 | Occasional; one given on 22 Sep 2026 | Occasional; one given on 22 Sep 2026 | Occasional; one given on 22 Sep 2026 | Occasional; one given on 22 Sep 2026 | Not documented |
| Where Claude shows itAnthropic's own views, as documented. | No usage bars documented | Settings > Usage, /usage | Settings > Usage, /usage | Settings > Usage, /usage | Settings > Usage, /usage | Settings > Usage, /usage | Settings > Usage (spend) |
Anthropic publishes multipliers, not message or token counts, so this table has none either. Plan prices are Claude's US prices before tax, as Anthropic listed them on 24 September 2026. Local prices vary.
Sources for this table: Plans and pricing · Get started with Claude · What is the Max plan? · What is the Team plan? · What is the Enterprise plan? · What is the Pro plan? · Claude Fable models on your plan · Use Claude Code with your Pro or Max plan · Manage usage credits for paid Claude plans · Manage usage credits for Team and seat-based Enterprise plans · What is a limit reset? · Claude Opus 5.5 · @ClaudeDevs: the limit reset can be applied until 22 October · Usage limit best practices · Manage costs effectively
Latest change
See all 11 changesMore usageIn effect
Opus 5.5 launch: five-hour limits raised on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise seats
With Claude Opus 5.5, Anthropic increased the five-hour usage limits of Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans. The announcement gives no figure; Anthropic's Claude Code account put the increase at 20% for Claude Code's five-hour session limits.
Effect. Anthropic added that Opus 5.5, priced below Opus 5, goes 25% further within the five-hour and weekly limits. ZDNET reported the 20% for subscription plans in general.
- Pro
- Max 5x
- Max 20x
- Team
- Enterprise
- All of Claude
- 5-hour session
Sources: Anthropic · Anthropic (@claudeai) · Anthropic (@ClaudeDevs) · ZDNET (press)
Checked on 24 September 2026
Limit resetIn effect
One limit reset given to subscribers, to use whenever they choose
Pro, Max and Team subscribers can refill their five-hour session or weekly limit once with 'Reset for free' in Settings > Usage, on the web or in Claude Desktop (not in the mobile apps or Claude Code).
Effect. Anthropic said it can be applied any time until 22 October 2026; its help article adds that an unused reset expires on the day and time listed on the offer, in Settings > Usage.
- Pro
- Max 5x
- Max 20x
- Team
- All of Claude
- 5-hour session
- Weekly limit
Sources: Anthropic · Anthropic help centre · Anthropic (@ClaudeDevs) · MacRumors (press)
Checked on 24 September 2026
How the two windows work
The five-hour session exists on every plan, Free included. Anthropic calls it a "rolling five-hour session window": in practice it opens with the first message you send while no window is running and closes about five hours later. Send your first message at 09:00 and that session ends around 14:00; the next one only starts with your next message. On paid plans, Settings > Usage shows it as Current session, with how much you have used and the time remaining.
The weekly limit exists on paid plans only. It applies across all models and resets "at a fixed time each week that is assigned to your account": the day and time stay the same whenever you started using Claude or subscribed. Settings > Usage shows the next reset under Weekly limits. Every message counts against the session and the week at the same time.
The five-hour window starts with your first message, not at a fixed hour
Example: first message at 09:00 → reset at 14:00. The next message, at 15:00, opens a new window.
| Period | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 09:00 | 14:00 |
| No window | 14:00 | 15:00 |
| Window 2 | 15:00 | 20:00 |
Model ceilings: Fable, Opus and Sonnet
Some models have a ceiling of their own inside the weekly limit.
- Fable 5 and Fable 5.1 on Max and on premium Team seats: up to 50% of your weekly limits at no extra cost, then usage credits or another model. It is a ceiling, not extra room: you "can never use more than your weekly limit".
- Fable on Pro and on standard Team seats: not part of the plan's limits. It runs on usage credits from the first message.
- Claude Code can also stop with "You've hit your Opus limit" or "Sonnet limit". That blocks one model family only:
/modelto another family keeps you working.
A model ceiling can block one model while the session and the week still have room
Example: session 38%, week 61%, Fable 100%. Whichever fills first stops you.
Blockedonly Fable is blocked: switch model and keep working.
| Limit | Used | Resets |
|---|---|---|
| 5-hour session | 38% | — |
| Weekly · all models | 61% | — |
| Weekly · Fable only | 100% | — |
How much each plan gives
Anthropic describes each plan by a multiple of another: Pro gives "at least 5x more usage per 5-hour session than Free", Max gives "5x or 20x more usage per 5-hour session than Pro", and on Team, Standard seats get 1.25× and Premium seats 6.25× Pro's per-session allowance. Team limits are per member: one person reaching a limit does not affect the others.
Plans differ by published multipliers, never by published token counts
Usage per 5-hour session relative to Pro, as Anthropic describes its plans. Prices are not part of this chart.
Per sessionthe same multiplier buys fewer messages when each message carries a long conversation or big files.
| Plan | Relative to Pro |
|---|---|
| Free | ≤ 1/5 of Pro |
| Pro | the reference |
| Max 5x | 5× Pro |
| Max 20x | 20× Pro |
The same multiplier does not buy the same number of messages. Anthropic lists what fills a window: message length, attachments, the length of the conversation, tools such as Research and web search, the model, the effort level, artifacts and multi-step tasks. A short question in a new chat costs little; the twentieth message of a long chat about a big file costs far more.
One pool for every Claude surface
Claude on the web, Claude Desktop, the mobile apps, Cowork and Claude Code all draw from the same limits. Since 16 September 2026, Anthropic has been merging Cowork and chat into one Claude conversation, starting with Pro and Max; while it rolls out, usage "may be measured slightly differently" between accounts that have it and accounts that do not.
Usage-based Enterprise plans are the exception: they have no plan limits, and every token is billed at API rates, with spend limits set by admins.
When you reach a limit
Anthropic lists three ways to keep going: wait for the reset, move to a bigger plan, or turn on usage credits (Pro, Max, and Team when the organization allows it), billed at API rates up to a monthly cap you set. Two more exist: a limit reset, when Anthropic has given you one ("Reset for free" in Settings > Usage, on the web or in Claude Desktop), and another model when only a model ceiling is full.
When each limit comes back, and how the free reset works, is on When Claude's limits reset.
How the limits changed in 2026
How Claude's limits changed
8 changes between January 2026 and September 2026. Dates in UTC.
- Mar 13 → Mar 28Off-peak promotion: five-hour usage doubled outside weekday peak hours
- Mar 26Peak hours: five-hour limits drain faster on weekdays, 5–11 AM PT
- May 6Claude Code: five-hour limits doubled, no peak-hour reduction on Pro and Max
- May 13 → Sep 13Promotion: Claude Code weekly limits 50% higher
- Jul 20Fable 5: up to 50% of weekly limits on Max, usage credits only on Pro
- Sep 14Claude Code weekly limits permanently 25% above their pre-promotion level
- Sep 16Cowork and chat become one Claude; usage may be measured slightly differently
- Sep 22Opus 5.5 launch: five-hour limits raised on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise seats · One limit reset given to subscribers,…
- Promotion
- Less usage
- More usage
- Model rules
- Other
The latest changes: on 14 September 2026, Claude Code's weekly limits settled 25% above their level before May, and on 22 September 2026, with Claude Opus 5.5, Anthropic raised the five-hour limits of Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans (by 20% for Claude Code, according to its Claude Code account) and gave Pro, Max and Team subscribers one limit reset, to use by 22 October. Every change, with its source: the full timeline.
What Anthropic does not publish
- No token or message counts for any plan, only the multipliers above.
- No weekly multipliers. The published multiples are "per 5-hour session"; Anthropic does not say how the weekly limits of Max 5x and Max 20x compare with Pro's.
- The size of the 22 September increase for chats. The announcement says the five-hour limits went up without giving a figure; Anthropic's Claude Code account gave 20% for Claude Code's five-hour session limits, and ZDNET reported the same 20% for subscription plans in general.
- Peak hours for chat. On 26 March 2026 Anthropic said five-hour limits drain faster on weekdays from 5 to 11 AM Pacific Time on Free, Pro and Max; it removed that for Claude Code on Pro and Max on 6 May, has announced no end for chat, and its help centre does not mention it.
- A weekly limit for Free. None is published; Free usage "will vary based on demand".
FAQ
Does Claude's five-hour limit reset at a fixed time?
No. The session is a rolling window: it closes about five hours after the message that opened it, and the next one opens with your next message. The weekly limit is the one with a fixed day and time, set for your account. Settings > Usage shows both reset times on paid plans.
Is Max 20x really twenty times Pro?
Per five-hour session, that is what Anthropic says: Max 20x gives 20× Pro's usage per session, Max 5x gives 5×. Anthropic does not publish how the weekly limits compare, so heavy users cannot assume twenty times Pro's week.
Do claude.ai and Claude Code share the same limits?
Yes. Claude Code on Pro, Max and Team draws from the same session and weekly limits as the web, desktop and mobile apps. Anthropic has raised the Claude Code side three times in 2026: five-hour limits doubled on 6 May and up another 20% on 22 September, weekly limits 25% above their pre-promotion level since 14 September.
Does the Free plan have a weekly limit?
Anthropic publishes none. Free has the five-hour session, and the number of messages "will vary based on demand". Settings > Usage progress bars are documented for Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans.
Where do I see my own limits?
In Settings > Usage on claude.ai or Claude Desktop (Current session, Weekly limits, Usage credits), and with /usage in Claude Code. UsageMeter, our extension, keeps the same numbers on the page while you work.
Did the limits change with Claude Opus 5.5?
Yes. On 22 September 2026 Anthropic raised the five-hour limits of Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans; its Claude Code account put the increase at 20% for Claude Code. It also gave Pro, Max and Team subscribers one limit reset to use when they choose, until 22 October.
Sources
Anthropic's own pages first, then press coverage, each with its date.
- Plans and pricing
- Usage limit best practices
- What is the Pro plan?
- What is the Max plan?
- What is the Team plan?
- What is the Enterprise plan?
- Get started with Claude
- Claude Fable models on your plan
- How do usage and length limits work?
- What is a limit reset?
- Manage usage credits for paid Claude plans
- Claude Cowork and chat are one Claude
- Error reference: usage limits
- Claude Opus 5.5
- @ClaudeDevs: Claude Code's 5-hour session limits up 20% with Opus 5.5
- @ClaudeDevs: the limit reset can be applied until 22 October
- Higher usage limits for Claude and a compute deal with SpaceX
- Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion
- Thariq (Claude Code team, Anthropic) on peak hours
- Use Claude Code with your Pro or Max plan
- Manage usage credits for Team and seat-based Enterprise plans
- Manage costs effectively
- Claude Opus 5.5 delivers Fable 5.1 performance - and costs 40% lessPress