Anthropic Renames Claude Max 20x to Ultra and Drops the Five-Hour Limit for Verified Accounts
Max 5x becomes Max at $100 a month and Max 20x becomes Ultra at $200. Ultra's weekly cap is unchanged.
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Anthropic has renamed its top Claude subscriptions. Max 5x is now simply Max at $100 a month, and Max 20x is now Ultra at $200 a month, The Verge reported on October 30. Verified Ultra accounts no longer have the rolling five-hour session limit, but the weekly allowance stays at 10 times Claude Pro.
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What changed
According to The Verge, prices are unchanged. Anthropic's help article on the Ultra plan confirms that existing Max 20x subscribers move to Ultra automatically, with no price change.
| Old name | New name | Monthly price | Five-hour limit | Weekly usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max 5x | Max | $100 | No change announced | Unchanged |
| Max 20x | Ultra | $200 | Removed for verified accounts | 10x Pro, unchanged |
Anthropic says the $200 price applies to web subscriptions; mobile pricing may vary by app platform. Ultra is sold only as a monthly plan.
The help article lists Ultra's benefits as:
- 10 times Pro's usage every week.
- Priority access to new models, features and products.
- Claude Code for terminal-based coding.
- Longer, multi-step background tasks such as reports, spreadsheets and presentations, through Claude Cowork.
- Monthly Claude API credits.
How the five-hour change works
The headline change is for verified Ultra accounts. They can "work at your own pace within your weekly limit," Anthropic says, without a rolling five-hour session cap.
That is not unlimited use. Ultra keeps a weekly limit across all models, plus a separate weekly limit for Fable. Anthropic also says additional limits "may apply to manage capacity," including weekly and monthly caps or limits on specific models and features. It does not guarantee uninterrupted service.
The change began October 30 and is rolling out in stages, starting with most existing subscribers, according to Claude's announcement as quoted by Windows Report; subscribers get an email when their limit is removed. Verification is automatic. Anthropic says it checks Ultra accounts using factors such as account and payment history to prevent fraud and abuse. Until an account is verified, a temporary session limit applies.
Two practical details:
- To check your status, open Settings > Usage. If there is no "Current session" bar, the account is verified.
- Verifying a phone number at checkout is a separate step and does not remove the session limit.
The OpenAI comparison
The change came a day after OpenAI raised usage on its ChatGPT Pro plans. On October 29, OpenAI's Help Center said Pro 100 and Pro 500 now include twice their previous Work and Codex allowance. On Pro 200, only accounts on the lower allowance were doubled, to match the higher one. Plus usage was unchanged.
The two companies took different routes. OpenAI increased the amount of usage. Anthropic left Ultra's weekly amount alone and changed when subscribers can use it.
Why it matters for Claude Code users
The five-hour window mainly affected people who work in bursts. A long Claude Code session that reads a repository, edits files, runs tests and fixes errors can burn through a session allowance quickly, even when plenty of weekly capacity remains.
For verified Ultra subscribers, that interruption is gone. They can spend more of their week's allowance in a single day, then work less later.
For subscribers who spread use evenly, little changes. The weekly ceiling and Anthropic's other capacity limits still apply. Whether $200 a month is worth it still depends on how much of the 10x allowance a user actually consumes.
What subscribers can do now:
- Check Settings > Usage to confirm whether your Ultra account is verified.
- If you're on Max 20x, expect the Ultra name on your plan; no action or price change is needed.
- Watch for the email confirming your five-hour limit is gone.
- Compare against ChatGPT Pro's revised allowances if you're choosing between the two.
More coverage is on our Artificial Intelligence hub.
How we reported this
We checked plan names and prices against The Verge's October 30 report and Anthropic's Ultra help article, and drew the usage and verification details from that article. We confirmed OpenAI's October 29 change on its own Help Center, which corrected an earlier draft that said OpenAI simply doubled limits. Claude's announcement, quoted by Windows Report, said weekly limits are unchanged. The table is our own summary.
Published and fact-checked October 30, 2026.
Sources
- Anthropic, "What is the Ultra plan?", Claude Help Center: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/17728952-what-is-the-ultra-plan
- The Verge, "Max, Ultra, Claude.", Jay Peters, Oct. 30, 2026: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1023576/max-ultra-claude
- Windows Report, "Anthropic Renames Claude Max 5x and 20x Plans, Removes Ultra's 5-Hour Limit for Verified Accounts," Oct. 30, 2026: https://windowsreport.com/anthropic-renames-claude-max-5x-and-20x-plans-removes-ultras-5-hour-limit/
- OpenAI, "About ChatGPT Pro tiers," OpenAI Help Center, updated Oct. 29, 2026: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9793128-about-chatgpt-pro-tiers
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.