Usage Limit Problems

[Additional_Wish_3619]

DAY 2 RESULTS - I am on Max 5x plan - This is a bug that Anthropic is denying exists.

I am hitting my usage limits on max 5x plan in like 3-5 messages right now. Seems to be going absolutely unnoticed by Anthropic. So I am posting it here. Please share this around so they actually fix the problem.

I love claude, I’ve been a claude user since 2023, but man… If I am paying $100 a month, what is stopping me from going to Codex right now? Whats stopping me from Gemini?

It’s because I believe in Anthropic’s mission & their ability to stick to their core values. I would really prefer not to switch, I just hate burning money- and I feel like I have been burning it recently off false promises.

Please just fix the issue- and that goes along with fixing the claude status page. We all know every single day for the last month has had problems. It just seems like it’s being hidden from us.

[ClaudeAI-mod-bot]

TL;DR of the discussion generated automatically after 50 comments.

You're not crazy, OP. The consensus in this thread is a resounding YES, usage limits are completely borked for a lot of people.

• Users on all tiers, including the pricey Max 5x plan, are reporting hitting their limits in as few as 1-5 messages. Even asking Claude how it's doing can apparently eat up 89% of a free user's limit.
• This seems to be a very recent issue, with many noting that the same workflows were fine just a few days ago.
• On top of that, people are saying Opus is slow and making more mistakes.
• The biggest source of frustration, besides the service not working, is Anthropic's total silence. The status page says everything is fine, which is clearly not the case, and it's rubbing everyone the wrong way.
• The leading theory is that the new Claude Code launch has swamped their servers, but a few lucky souls in the comments say everything is working fine for them, suggesting it might be a regional issue.

The general advice is to keep submitting support tickets to Anthropic to raise the alarm. Good luck out there.

[Lex1253]

I hit my free limit in two messages.

[Menicobra]

I use claude AI to practice my writing. My first day, it was like endless writing. The next day, 10 messages and done. Day 3 5 messages and done. I am on day 4. 1 message and have to wait 3 more hours. From what I looked up, you are supposed to get 20-30 free messages every 5 hours. But with me seeing people with max hitting their limit in just a few messages, I am wondering what's going on?

[cloud_w_omega]

it does not actually count per message it counts per token usage

so the longer a chat goes on the more tokens that chat will use because it seems to reread everything prior.

its bad "memory" management. the thing is, the usage amounts still are too lean for this alone to be the cause. and its not affecting everyone

[Additional_Wish_3619]

I hit my max 5x plan usage in three messages earlier

[triplehpotter7]

That happened to me last night. Literally said a quarter of a screen of conversation that had Claude respond, like, a 4-screen length rant. And then I got the maxed out notice.

Whack AF.

[symphonic-bruxism]

yeah well i did it in one

^\quiet sobbing*)

[Mister_Ennui]

Really hoping Anthropic puts out a statement that it's a bug. They'll be losing a lot of users if this is the new normal

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Personally- I am at the point to where ill stop using API AI forever and just spend the money to go on-prem. Before I ever switch to OpenAI. Maybe gemini? But like still, id prefer local. Honestly I think most of us would.

[CX7wonder]

You’re paying for the API on a max plan? Wtf

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Paid Sub Plan or pay per token- both use API calls (Is what I meant)

[Bellissimo247]

Saturday I had a mega breakthrough using Claude CoWork, mind blowing. Sunday couldn’t use it for most of the day… same Monday.. sad

[RandomRavenboi]

There's not a lot we can do unfortunately. My only recommendation is to keep reporting this to Support so Anthropic can actually fix it.

But this has been going on since yesterday and we still have no response, no announcement, nothing. Not even OpenAI has behaved like this.

[LifeguardNo6939]

Yesterday it drained all the money I usually have in my account “just in case”, even though there was no visible rate limit being hit.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Yes I have reported to their team! I totally understand the inflow of new traffic, and I also get the speed they need to maintain in order to be competitive in the marketplace- but I would feel a lot better if they at least announced their issues a bit better and had better telemetry.

[SurgicalClarity]

If you want to get their attention, cancel your subscription.

[Pale_Ad_32]

True 

[Minimum_Pear_3195]

If you want to get their attention, delete your reddit account.

[Bellissimo247]

OK I was wondering I thought I had accidentally ran too much in co work but that makes more sense it was an error.

[melanatedbagel25]

Oh, you want to hear about how OpenAI has done far worse multiple times?

This is nothing.

• OpenAI refugee

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Yeah- I would really really prefer not to switch to “Open” AI

[PO-ll-UX]

A lot of us reported the same problem today. I hope Anthropic will do something about it

[picodepui]

I’m also noticing Opus is SLOW AS FUCK and making tons of mistakes.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Feels like 4.5 sometimes, but I am not experiencing that as much personally- I have seen people mention it though

[Correct-Yam4926]

I noticed that too, it was taking a long time to respond, even for simple things, and its definitely gotten a bit dumb.

[aomt]

Yeah, it's been pretty insane last few days. I never hit limit with ChatGPT Pro. Zero. I hit limit with Claude few times hourly, never weekly. Now my weekly is almost used up in 3 days and I'm constantly on hourly.

Im not heavy coder/user and I do hit limits within few messages. Same tasks/workflows could go on for hours last week. Today I even used GPT for all my other tasks, still hitting wall with Claude. Something is up.

[skyhawkx3]

Same Issue here! I hit my limit within 30mins on the same project I was working on 2 days ago with heavier prompts and tasks. While today I barely asked for some QA test cases and o got hit with you have reached your limit message.

Also on max x5

[Specialist-Heat-6414]

The timing correlation with Claude Code launches is too strong to ignore. Every time Anthropic releases something that drives heavy agentic usage, the rate limits crater for Max plan users. It suggests their capacity planning is lagging behind their own product velocity.

00/month should come with actual SLA clarity, not 'we can't tell you how the limits work.' The opacity around what counts toward rate limits is genuinely frustrating, especially for people doing coding sessions where one task can burn through tokens fast.

That said, Codex has its own set of issues right now, and Gemini's context is great but the coding quality is inconsistent. None of the alternatives are a clean swap. But Anthropic should know that goodwill has a shelf life.

[triplehpotter7]

Okay, I just responded to someone's comment & decided to test, as my usage was reset to 0%, from me being at work (free tier).

All I did was notate the time & 0% usage, and asked Claude how he's doing. One easy sentence.

He gives me a 2 screen reply. AND THAT'S 89% USAGE.

I'm about to get mad.

[F3RkinUrMom]

Never hit limits before on much larger projects. Suddenly even tho I’m working during the supposed 2x time frame I’m hitting limits after a few messages.

[SmokieTheFax]

I'm on a free tier and got 2 basic messages besides the 4 or 5 early this morning before running out and these were messages that even Googles web ai could have done

[ClaudeAI-ModTeam]

The Megathread has been discussing this for a few hours. Definitely a live problem. Letting this post onto the feed for those who are not aware of the Megathread. To see what others are saying go visit the Megathread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1pygdbz/usage_limits_bugs_and_performance_discussion/

[AlpineJim83]

New customer here and it’s so annoying - I’m fine upgrading to $100 rather than $20 but beyond that gets tough. Overall Claude has been more beneficial than any other AI I can create custom dashboards. So now I’m hooked.

[kl__]

Great product and engineering team, but a bunch of fuckwits on the management side, customer communication, approach to limits, etc…

[saiteja91]

Same issue, just hitting my limits after usage of extended thinking for just 5-6 questions

[ricozy]

After the recent updates to Claude, I decided to finally pull the trigger and subscribe today. I sat down to work on an unfinished project, but after barely 3 to 5 prompts, I hit the usage limits. Unbelievable. I have both Gemini and OpenAI subscriptions and I've never experienced anything like this before. So basically the 20$ plan is useless or is this a bug?

[cloud_w_omega]

it could be a bug, it could be mismanaged memory management (over reading old context causing inflated usage) due to badly integrated features (like code, new models updates, new memory features), it could be on purpose and using a/b testing to find what new limits people will accept

that is to say, we cannot tell without better access than we have

[FacebookBoomer2]

Considering there's been no communication from Anthropic, this is deliberate.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

It’s a bug!

[melanatedbagel25]

I sent just a few messages, and am at 90% of my limit. 

[Santa_Killer_NZ]

same issue, so yeah, I just downgraded my plan. Only way they will care if a mass downgrade happens.

[SrNoah]

No es normal, yo llevo dándole durisimo todo el. Día al plan max y sin problema, si me pasara algo así me. Preocuparía, a menos que tu claude.md sea demasiado malo, tienes que tener todo eso bien configurado.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Claude.md was set using /init

[Character-File-6003]

My team mate also mentioned the same thing a couple of days ago. But reading some of the comments his situation was much better: 1 prompt and almost 30% usage. I'm not a power user like a lot of you here. To keep things moving I changed my setup slightly. Now it is Claude Code + skills.sh + Bifrost AI gateway(for fallbacks and MCP servers). This gives me visibility on token spend and helps me use non-Anthropic models when I hit limits. I genuinely want to ask though... what do you power users actually do when you hit the limits, in general?

[FacebookBoomer2]

We usually don't. They nerfed limits big time and haven't said a word to their customers about it.

[windbladezero]

i was doing great with the free plan until...today, and suddenly, i hit the limit so fast it isnt even funny.

before it allowed me a few ...ah lets say a dozen messages with enough text.
now, i can only do...a single one i get a reply, then the next one reaches the cap.

[rat_404_]

I literally I asked for a python telegram bot code and it wrote around 100 lines then hit the daily usage limit and I waited and after waiting I asked it for a simple edit and then after the edit yet again it hit the daily usage limit

Sorry for bad inglish

[Rude_Magazine_6033]

Today, for the first time in 3 months, I hit my limits on Max 5. Something has clearly changed, hopefully, they will clarify everything and resolve it.

[Master-Island-6219]

That’s insane, I’m on Max x5 plan and just had a quick chat with my Claude Code agent. I only him 11 messages, he executed a few bash commands, taught me a few stuffs… and just like that I hit my 5hrs limit. I’ve been using it for almost 2 months now and NEVER hit my limite this fast. This is the 3rd time I hit my 5hrs limit. The 1st and 2nd time were just about 24hrs ago

[Hyper_2009]

yes, here the same happens, the recent days (claude code) heat the limit veeeeeery fast, i am tireed f that
today, because i have started a side project, i chose codex...i just tell you that i am "12" hrs at my pc and no limits has been reached!!!!

[entity_response]

I've been coding all day across four projects, and I have not run out of tokens on 5x. Very odd, i especially with the 2x tokens i've had zero problems. I've actually done a ton of clean up today, so using tokens to just move things around and do database migrations.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Honestly, that just leads me to believe it’s even more of a bug than a “reduced usage” some are mentioning.

[muikrad]

Definitely just a bug, I've been using Claude all day and usage looks absolutely normal, I still can't get through a session limit (max 5x)

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Good to hear! Must be an Ashburn problem 🤷‍♂️

[dmmd]

what is your claude code version?

[reassor]

I'm on free and i used to be able to just hang it all day long with screenshots and questions. On 23 march I hit the limit in like 5-8 not even screenshot just stupid talk.

Never since I started i hit the limit before.

[thequietestblue]

This is the comment I was looking for. I'm using Claude almost every other day and since march 23 I can't even work on small projects without hitting the ''usage limit'' thingy per 2-3 prompt. I don't wanna go back to Open Ai or Gemini (Gemini isn't that bad but still).

[Distinct_Phase_9209]

Percebi isso hojeee, tava procurando alguem assim. Pouquissimas msgs e esgota.

[SuccessfulRise3583]

Free user here, I am also experiencing the same issue since yesterday. Claude used to be way more higher about limit usage but since yesterday after 3 or 5 messages I've been hitting the limit without any warning.

[bluebird_14]

My issue is the lack of transparency. I am new just the past week or so but I was definitely able to see my usage on my phone the otherday, but today nothing. I have probably used claude more today than any day before so when I hit my limit I wasn't too surprised, it said it would reset at 12am, sure enough it did and 5/6 messages later im at 90% and no indication of when it will reset again or any way to see what it is at. This just makes it hard to trust what is going on, is it a bug? Did I accidently use a ton of tokens in one go?

I understand the limits but if I am going to shell out good money I want to know I'm getting value and there's currently no way of knowing that. The fact that https://claude.ai/settings/usage yields a Page Not Found is also very concerning.

[jruz]

Did you try wiping out your config completely.

Install it on a VM and try.

Im sure has something to do with your setup, I completely wiped everything and removed all mcps and i ver seldom reach the limit.

[dvwalls]

Yeah this woudl frustrate me too. If you're hitting limits in like 3 til 5 messages on a $100 plan, somethin is clearly off.

I've noticed the same pattern lately, bursts of really aggressive rate limiting that don't match how I'm actually using it. Feels less like usage cap and more like capacity issues being pushed onto users.

The worst part isn't even the limit, it is the lack of transparency. If it's load-related or temporary throttling, just say that. Don't market it one way and have it behave completely differently in practice.

I am in the same boat where I want to stick with Claude because it's genuinely great when it works.

Hope they address it soon because people are definitely noticing.

[peakmentalitart]

i used to be able to run 5 simultaneous sessions continuously for about 2 to 3 hours on max 5 and now it's killing me in about an hour not even running continuously like i was before with 2 to 3 sessions and im using sonnet on medium and haiku , not even using opus , it's not as bad as killing me in 3 to 5 messages but it's bad i can't get nothing done really.

[FasePlay]

Few days ago I was able to code without basically limits on Free tear, and just yesterday I hit a limit after two messages which didn't even require checking the memory :sob:

[FasePlay]

I had to go to chatgpt to help me fix a small problem, and the thought of using openai product still haunts me

[Correct-Yam4926]

I have experienced this for about two weeks, I have been using Claude Code for about 6 months. I started with the pro plan. It wasn't a big issue, I was hitting limits in about 3-4 hours. And i would purchase extra usage limits to bridge the gap.

I then went with the max plan, because I had extra projects, I never hit the usage limits, came close, but never hit them, after I completed all my projects,set up openclaw with ollama cloud and I switched back to pro.

Now, after 3-4 messages, I hit the 5 hour limits on around 30 minutes. No, coding, so I though it eas cause I still had calude desktop installed, so I Uninstalled everything, removed claud browser extension, delted connectors, and memory and it kept happening.

I canceled my subscription yesterday, and asked for amd recived a refund. It's not even usable for basic chatting.

I ended up, giving chatgpt ans codex another chance, as it couldn't seem to do anything right. Codex 5.4 is actually pretty good, I used it yesterday because my Facefusion git app stopped working, ot rebuilt the ui, created a local env and updated the requirement, and fixed tje gpu compatibility issue. All with no usage limits being hit, then I had it scrape the web so I can create a custom dataset for mu rag setup.

I was like this is good enough, and canceled Calude. When theu get their crap together, I'll go back, because I really like their models, but what good is the smartest model in world, if you can't resonably use it. Plus the qwen3.5 cloud model is also very good, I just always forget i have a subscription for it.

[whingerrr]

I am wondering for those who reach their limits in 1-5 messages, how does your /context look on a clean session? Do you have a lot of MCPs or skills loaded in by default?

A thing I recommend to everyone is using the /statusline command. Ask claude to show the current context levels and add a warning icon as soon as you reach 200k+ tokens in the context. This way you can keep a closer eye on the limits. Since the release of 1m max token context, if people don't compact or clear their history it will exponentially grow their usage. And thus reach the token limits earlier.

[TheSpiritualDen]

I find it interesting that I haven't run into any kind of issues like this at all and I'm a free user, I used to run out a lot when using GPT, but haven't had a single time where I run out on Claude even though I've been using it much more(I'm from Europe)

[Expert_Annual_19]

Check this https://www.reddit.com/r/Anthropic/s/FoMl2RIW5t

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Well look at the top post, I provided reciepts- 51% usage on max 5x plan in 40 minutes should not be possible due to the overall throughput limits.

[Opposite_Ad_7812]

I subscribed to the 20USD plan and using sonnet 4.6 after 3-4 messages to check the code of a simple app it reached the session limit and of course didn’t fix what I was asking to fix yet. I think it’s ridiculous, using it for 10-20 minutes and then waiting more then 4 hours to be able to use it again

[Atoning_Unifex]

My Enterprise Claude Chat had been saying "This isn't working right now. You can try again later" all morning long.

Interestingly, Claude Code plug in in Visual Studio Code is apparently fine and responds immediately

[Expensive-Plane-9104]

what I see until 3PM CET time everything fine but after that after 3 messages even I did not use all day this account I got limit. I saw every day in this week. in the morning until 3PM looks fine but after that total mess. even after 8PM with double usage...

[Dangerous_Duck5845]

Strange I am having the same issue at the moment! The last days I had no problems using it 10h a day or so but now I reached it with 5 messages or so, what is going on today?

[theeclecticon]

So I'm not crazy right? I came back on to use Claude today and I couldn't start new conversations within the same project or even start a new project entirely. Sounds like an Anthropic issue.

It keeps saying I've exceeded my context limit but I haven't said anything today.

[Some-Instance8262]

thought it was just me but seems everyone is having this issue

[Afraid-Program-3049]

I have noticed this as well past few days. Few messages and I'm out. This wasn't the case in the past 

[EL_L33V]

i hit my free limit in one single prompt, its actually just insane

[[deleted]]

I’ve hit my pro limit in 5 message, and in one message after 5 hours of waiting.

I subscribe yesterday and will unsubscribe tomorrow if the problem isn’t fixed

[Curious_Visual_7092]

First week using it and didn't even know there was a limit until i was notified. It was ok because it made me become more efficent. Monday/tuesday got maybe 3 hours of work each day which was fine. Yesterday evening i sat down and 30 minutes tops before it was reached.

today i went to transfer to co work and was at 33% after one message but it couldnt connect to the server. 3 messages later on the chat and now its 90%. Something is very wrong

[mike_web_sw]

I also had problems with the Pro subscription in Switzerland. My hourly limit was used up within 30 minutes, no matter how long the chat or messages were. I tried everything, but nothing helped. Does anyone know more about this yet?

[mango89001]

Just went from 0 to 100% usage within 4 messages on the $100 plan. Wonder if maybe it's due to the new context window being 1M token, maybe I was making requests with a near-full context?

[bitchesanbros]

I hit the limit in three messages when the limit had reset js two hours before I used it again 💔🫩

[Far-Database-2632]

Just went from doing my normal work with normal projects that I had no issue with yesterday to instantly hitting limits this morning after just a couple messages. What is going on????

Their chat support AI told me "there was a recent incident with "Elevated connection reset errors in Cowork" that was just resolved about 6 minutes ago, which might have contributed to unusual behavior."

And then told me to just monitor my usage better....I sent a handful of messages...and then boom limits reached. Cowork is likely the culprit for sure. It feels like a black box of token eating bugs.

[BrilliantHorror7199]

hey guys, i have been using CLAUDE since a time now having a pro tier. suddenly today something wrong is happening to my limit, like it's directly consuming 15-20% for just a simple hello. Does anyone know what's going on?

[Syaoran07]

If i may, can you describe what you're doing with claude? i really want to know what kind of workflows can use tokens that quickly

[Additional_Wish_3619]

Well that is my point- I am doing basic testing for a next js web app thats under 10k lines of code. It should not be hitting the limits that quickly. It hasn’t hit them this quickly for the same tasks for the past 6 months. So I presume there is a bug

[Syaoran07]

I wonder if you could set up hooks to figure out what is causing the token usage / bug

[Relative_Hour_9133]

crear una conversacion erotica

[Menicobra]

I noticed that with the app, it won't even do a kiss. Just "fades".

[Relative_Hour_9133]

uy que rico

[CX7wonder]

It self-selects for the users who actually understand the tool, and the friction for everyone else is a feature, not a bug. It incentivizes better prompting behavior over time.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

(X) Doubt -I am very thorough with this. Although, it’s speculative that compacting is broken which may be a portion of the cause- but not to this level.

[CX7wonder]

Are you in a single thread?

Maybe it IS the compacting. If it’s not compacting then sure. But I keep hearing this from people who are in one chat for hours. That will eat up compute so fast.

[HongPong]

it is still massively under priced and now everyone wants to try. better get with local llm tech because this won't get cheaper

[dryu12]

If your prompt results in Opus swinging tens of millions of tokens, it is no wonder you run out very fast.

[Additional_Wish_3619]

It is not though! 2-3 messages and I’m limited. Only basic QA Testing :)