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Is the Claude 5-hour limit gone?

Checked on 5 November 2026 against the sources below.

Only for verified Ultra accounts, the $200 plan. On 30 October 2026 Anthropic renamed its plans (Max 5x became Max, Max 20x became Ultra) and announced it was "removing the 5-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting today with most existing subscribers". Pro at $20 a month and Max at $100 a month still have the 5-hour limit, and so do Team and Enterprise seats. Every plan, Ultra included, still has a weekly limit. If you are on Ultra and still see a 5-hour bar, your account may not be verified yet: Anthropic says newer accounts keep a temporary limit until they are, and that a verified account has no Current session bar in Settings > Usage.

If you have just run into a 5-hour limit on Pro or Max, it is still there for you, and the reset time in the message is when it comes back. The sections below quote what Anthropic says, how to check your own account, what the weekly limit means now, and where Codex stands. Every change to Claude's and OpenAI's limits, with its date and source, is in the dated log of limit changes.

What Anthropic changed on 30 October 2026

Anthropic's post on X, 30 October 2026: "We're renaming our Max plans: Max 5x → Max, Max 20x → Ultra. Max is still $100/month, and Ultra is still $200. If you're a subscriber, there's nothing you need to do. We're also removing the 5-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting today with most existing subscribers. Newer accounts keep a temporary limit until they're verified, which helps us prevent fraud and abuse. You'll get an email when it's removed. Weekly limits remain unchanged."

Anthropic's help centre says the same in its Ultra plan article: "Ultra includes 10 times the Pro plan's usage every week and has no five-hour limit, for verified accounts." The post is the only Anthropic page found that gives the date; the help centre's release notes do not mention it.

Who still has a 5-hour limit

PlanPrice5-hour limitWeekly limit
Pro$20 a monthYesYes
Max (once called Max 5x)$100 a monthYes. Anthropic's Max plan article: "Max plans have a five-hour limit, a weekly usage limit that applies across all models, and a separate weekly limit for Fable."Yes, plus a separate weekly limit for Fable
Ultra (once called Max 20x), verified$200 a monthNoYes, ten times Pro's
Ultra, not yet verified$200 a monthA temporary one, until the account is verifiedYes
Team and Enterprise seatsPer seatYes. Each seat's allowance "resets on a rolling five-hour window and a weekly window".Yes

Prices and usage descriptions are from claude.com/pricing, where the Ultra card reads "No 5-hour limit" with the footnote "No 5-hour limit for verified accounts."

How to check whether your account still has one

Open Settings > Usage on claude.ai. Anthropic's Ultra article: "To check, go to Settings > Usage. If you don't see a Current session bar, your account is verified." In Claude Code, /usage shows the same bars. If you are on Ultra and still see the session bar, Anthropic says it verifies Ultra accounts automatically "using factors like your account and payment history", and sends an email when the limit is removed.

What the weekly limit means without a 5-hour one

Without a 5-hour window, nothing slows you down during the day, so the weekly limit is the only thing between a heavy few days and a stop that can last until your weekly reset. Claude Code's error reference puts the risk plainly: "Usage counts against the session and weekly allowances at the same time. A single burst of heavy activity, such as a large workflow fanout, can exhaust the weekly allowance before the session window resets." On Ultra the same is true with no session window at all.

Claude Code also does not wait on its own for a reset more than 24 hours away, so a weekly stop needs a decision from you: wait, or use usage credits, which bill you at API rates for what you use past the limit.

And Codex?

OpenAI went through the same change earlier. It lifted Codex's 5-hour limit for Plus, Pro and Business on 12 July 2026 and brought it back for Plus on 25 August, keeping it off for Pro. Its Codex pricing page says today that "Pro plans currently have no five-hour limit", while Plus and Standard Business seats have one. From December, OpenAI says Plus, Pro and Business will share one allowance across ChatGPT and Codex, measured in tokens. The Codex limits guide has the dates and OpenAI's wording.

Seeing which limit you actually hit, over time

When the plans change this often, the useful record is your own: which window you hit, how often, and what you were doing. OpenReason Intel, a dashboard for Claude Code and Codex usage, keeps that. It records your 5-hour and weekly windows from every machine you use, shows when each one filled, and shows the turns that were running with their estimated share of the window. If you are on Ultra, you will see the weekly window alone.

It does not warn you before a limit, and it does not change what Anthropic allows. What you can do instead is keep your percentages in the Claude Code status line as you work, and look afterwards at which sessions filled the window.

What to do next

  1. Read next

  2. See what used up your limit

    Session Forensics is a free page that reads the Claude Code and Codex session files already on your computer, in your browser. It lists the limits you hit and the turns that used each one up. There is nothing to install and no sign-up, and your files are never uploaded. For Claude Code its 5-hour figure is an estimate, because Claude Code's files do not record the meter.

    Would you rather have your own agent do it? Paste this prompt into Claude Code or Codex.

    Open Session Forensics (opens in a new tab)

  3. Get an email when the limits change

    Get an email when Claude Code or Codex limits change. One email per change, at most one a week, from OpenReason. Unsubscribe from any email in one click.

  4. Track it over time

    Sign up with your Google account, no card, and run one install command. OpenReason Intel then keeps a record of your 5-hour and weekly windows, or your weekly window alone on Ultra, with the turns that used each one up. It is free for one person.

    It shows you what happened; it does not stop a session as you work, and it cannot change your vendor's limits.

    Sign up free with Google

Questions people ask

Is the Claude 5-hour limit gone?
Only for verified Ultra accounts, the $200 plan, since 30 October 2026, rolled out starting with most existing subscribers. Pro ($20) and Max ($100) still have the 5-hour limit, as do Team and Enterprise seats. Every plan still has a weekly limit.
Does the Claude Max plan still have a 5-hour limit?
Yes. The $100 Max plan, once called Max 5x, has a five-hour limit, a weekly limit across all models and a separate weekly limit for Fable. Only verified Ultra accounts, the $200 plan once called Max 20x, lost the 5-hour limit.
How do I know if my Ultra account is verified?
Open Settings > Usage on claude.ai. Anthropic says that if you don't see a Current session bar, your account is verified. Newer accounts keep a temporary 5-hour limit until they are verified, and Anthropic sends an email when it is removed.
How do Claude Code's 5-hour and weekly limits work?
The 5-hour limit starts with your first message and resets in full five hours later; the weekly limit resets at a fixed time each week assigned to your account. Both are shared across claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. The guide on Claude Code's limits has the detail.

Sources

Every figure on this page was read from these pages on 5 November 2026. Limits and prices change; if a vendor page now says something different, the vendor page is right and this one is out of date.