Claude Max 20x is now Ultra, and verified accounts lose the five-hour limit

The skim

• Anthropic renamed its top Claude plans. Max 5x is now just Max ($100 a month), and Max 20x is now Ultra ($200 a month). Prices don't change, and subscribers move over automatically.
• The bigger change: verified Ultra accounts no longer have Claude's five-hour usage limit, starting with most existing subscribers. They can use their whole weekly allowance whenever they like.
• Ultra isn't unlimited. Anthropic says it includes 10 times Pro's usage each week, with a separate weekly limit for Fable, and newer accounts keep a temporary limit until they're verified.

What happened

Anthropic announced the change on X on Friday. "We're renaming our Max plans," the @claudeai account posted, adding that Max is still $100 a month, Ultra is still $200 and "If you're a subscriber, there's nothing you need to do." In the same post, it said it is "removing the 5-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting today with most existing" subscribers.

Anthropic's help page for the Ultra plan spells out the details. Ultra includes 10 times the Pro plan's usage every week, and verified accounts don't have a five-hour limit. If an account isn't verified yet, "a temporary limit applies." Ultra has one weekly limit across all models plus a separate weekly limit for Fable, and Anthropic says it may add other caps to manage capacity. The plan includes Claude Code, priority access to new models and features, and monthly Claude API credits. It's sold monthly only, at $200 on the web. Mobile pricing can differ.

According to Windows Report, newer Ultra subscribers will get an email once their temporary limit is lifted.

Why it matters

The five-hour limit was the most annoying part of Claude's paid plans for heavy users, especially developers running Claude Code all day. Even on the most expensive plan, a long session could hit the cap and force a wait until the window reset, even with weekly usage left. Removing it for Ultra means a power user can now spend the week's allowance in a few long days instead of rationing it.

The rename also cleans up a confusing name. Claude subscriptions product lead Mike Overell said on X that the plan's weekly limit had always been 10 times Pro's, acknowledged that some new users had assumed "20x" applied to both the five-hour and weekly limits, and apologized. The Ultra name drops the multiplier, and the help page now states the 10x weekly figure plainly.

The catch is verification. Anthropic says it verifies Ultra accounts automatically "to help prevent fraud and abuse," using factors like account and payment history, and that verifying a phone number at checkout is a separate step that doesn't remove the limit.

What's next

If you're on Ultra, check Settings > Usage in Claude. Anthropic says that if you don't see a "Current session" bar, your account is verified and the five-hour limit is gone. The $100 Max plan keeps its current limits, since the change covers only verified Ultra accounts. With Anthropic preparing to go public, expect more changes to how it packages its consumer plans.

Sources: Anthropic, Windows Report and The Verge.