Claude renames Max 5x and Max 20x to Max and Ultra; Ultra removes the 5-hour usage limit

Claude announces the removal of the 5-hour limit! The first batch of Ultra users have already been "unlocked" — QbitAI Download the app for exclusive early access October 31, 2026 08:09:38 From Beijing Updated October 31, 2026 08:26:33

Mengyao reporting from the Non-Convex Temple

QbitAI | WeChat Official Account QbitAI

The original Max 5x and Max 20x have officially been renamed to Max and Ultra, respectively.

The prices haven't changed, though — still $100 and $200 per month.

But this time, the $200-tier Ultra users are also getting a real, tangible change —

The 5-hour usage limit is being removed.

According to the official explanation, Ultra users who meet the verification requirements, starting today —

can use Claude continuously within their weekly quota, and finally no longer be bottlenecked by the 5-hour window.

Of course, most existing Ultra subscribers have already begun receiving this adjustment, while new accounts need to wait for verification — so you can hang tight for a bit~

One thing worth emphasizing: the weekly usage quota remains unchanged, still 10 times that of Pro users.

Do you all think this is sincere enough?

Anyway, in the comments section... clearly someone who just doubled their own Plus users' quota yesterday isn't buying it:

So the only solution is to shell out $200 for Ultra. (Makes sense.)

Claude removes the 5-hour limit, $200 Ultra users get it first

For Max 5x users, this is mainly a name simplification — the price and existing usage rules haven't changed noticeably.

The real focus falls on the new Ultra users, formerly Max 20x. According to the latest explanation just released by the official team, Ultra subscribers get —

Removal of the 5-hour limit: Verified accounts no longer need to wait for the 5-hour window to reset and can work continuously within their weekly quota.

Priority access to new features: Including priority access to new models, features, and products.

Claude Code support: Ability to execute code development tasks in the terminal.

Long-running task support: Letting Claude continuously handle complex work such as reports, spreadsheets, and presentations in the background.

To put it in the most straightforward, no-nonsense terms, after this removal of the 5-hour limit for Ultra, the biggest benefit is —

Users who have completed verification can use their weekly quota at their own pace.

Of course, this perk also comes with a small threshold for us users.

Anthropic also said that most existing Ultra users have already begun having their limits lifted one after another, while new users need to pass account verification first.

Verification is completed automatically based on information such as the account and payment history, so we don't need to do anything extra — just wait for the official email notification.

As for how to know whether you've successfully been "unlocked" —

Open Claude's Settings → Usage. If you find that the familiar 5-hour usage progress bar has disappeared, then congratulations, you've been successfully unlocked.

Why was 20x renamed Ultra? There's also an old quota debt behind it??

I reckon many of you are thinking the same thing as me.

The subscription originally called Max 20x has now been directly renamed Ultra, so how did the 20x in the name suddenly disappear!!!

Regarding this, Mike Overell, who is in charge of Claude subscription products at Anthropic, specifically posted an explanation.

As we all know, the "20x" in the original Max 20x referred to the usage quota within a single 5-hour window being 20 times that of Pro users.

Later, Anthropic added a weekly quota limit, and then the problem arose —

The 5-hour quota is 20x, but the weekly quota is only 10x that of Pro.

Many users paid $200 expecting to enjoy a 20x quota, only to discover after using it for a while that the weekly quota follows a different calculation.

Mike Overell also admitted that this naming approach is prone to misunderstanding and apologized for the previous communication issues.

So this renaming to Ultra can also be seen as bringing a long-unclarified "quota debt" back onto the table.

Moreover, Claude's quota controversy has precedents.

In June this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that a consumer had filed a lawsuit against Anthropic's high-priced subscription limits, alleging that the quota advertising for the relevant products was misleading.

From this perspective, this change can also be seen as a response to long-term user feedback~

But the problem is, although the rules are now transparent and the quota has indeed changed, the timing of your news is still a bit awkward.

Because you should know that just yesterday, the neighboring OpenAI's Tibo godfather had just doubled the quota for Pro users...

So here's the question.

Will you all buy into Claude's move of "renaming" plus "lifting the limit"?

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