Claude Max 20x becomes Ultra, drops the 5-hour limit

What changed

Anthropic announced on X on October 30 that it is renaming its Max plans (Windows Report). The $100-a-month Max 5x is now simply Max, and the $200-a-month Max 20x is now Ultra. Subscribers do not need to do anything: plans move to the new names automatically, with no price change.

The bigger news is the limit. Claude has used a rolling five-hour window, and anyone who used up that allowance had to wait for the reset. Verified Ultra accounts no longer have that 5-hour limit, starting now for most existing subscribers, according to the company (Claude Help Center).

What stays

• Weekly limits: Ultra gives 10 times Pro's usage every week, with a weekly limit across all models and a separate weekly limit for Fable.
• Max still gives 5 times Pro's usage every 5 hours and every week.
• Claude Code draws from the same pool as chat on web, desktop and mobile.
• Anthropic says it may limit usage in other ways to manage capacity, such as weekly and monthly caps.

The pricing page marks as new that Max includes $100 and Ultra $200 a month in API credits for the Claude Platform, and that both plans include Fable for up to half of the weekly limit (Claude).

What counts as verified

There is no form. Anthropic verifies Ultra accounts automatically to prevent fraud and abuse, using factors such as account and payment history. Until then a temporary limit applies, which is also how new accounts start. Verifying a phone number at checkout is a separate step and does not remove the limit.

To check, open Settings > Usage: if there is no Current session bar, the account is verified.

Who it matters for

Anyone who works in Claude Code all day and kept hitting the midday stop. Total usage does not grow, it just becomes easier to spread out: burn through the weekly budget in two long days and you wait for the weekly reset. The number to watch is now the weekly meter, not the 5-hour one.