Anthropic renamed its two Claude Max plans on October 30, 2026. Max 5x is now just Max, at $100 a month, and Max 20x is now Ultra, at $200. The announcement on X says existing subscribers have nothing to do, and that prices are unchanged.
The rename comes with one real change. Anthropic is “removing the 5-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting today with most existing subscribers.” Newer accounts keep a temporary limit until they are verified, which Anthropic says helps it prevent fraud and abuse, and they get an email when it is lifted. Weekly limits, the post says, “remain unchanged.”
We read the announcement, the live Claude pricing page at 17:44 UTC, and the same page as archived on October 26, four days earlier.
Anthropic renamed Max 5x to Max and Max 20x to Ultra on October 30, 2026; prices stay at $100 and $200 a month.
Verified Ultra accounts no longer have a 5-hour limit, starting with most existing subscribers; newer accounts keep one until verified.
Anthropic says weekly limits are unchanged, and the pricing page now puts Ultra at 10x Pro’s weekly usage.
Max stays at 5x Pro every 5 hours and every week, with $100 a month in API credits; Ultra gets $200.
The October 26 Max card listed higher output limits for all tasks; neither new card mentions output limits.
§ 01What changed, plan by plan
| Plan | Before (Oct 26 page) | After (Oct 30 page) |
|---|---|---|
| $100 plan | Max 5x: 5x Pro per 5-hour session | Max: 5x Pro every 5 hours and every week |
| $200 plan | Max 20x: 20x Pro per 5-hour session | Ultra: no 5-hour limit for verified accounts, 10x Pro every week |
| Monthly API credits | $100 to $200 a month | $100 on Max, $200 on Ultra |
| Fable | Up to half the weekly limit on both | Unchanged: up to half the weekly limit on both |
| Output limits | “Higher output limits for all tasks” listed on the Max card | Not listed on either card |
The $100 plan loses only its suffix. The $200 plan changes shape: it was sold on its five-hour window, and that window is now gone for verified accounts.
§ 0220x was the five-hour number; the week is 10x
The old page described Max 20x as “20x the usage of Pro per 5-hour session.” The new page states the weekly figure for the same $200 plan, and it is half that: “10x the weekly usage of Pro.” Anthropic says weekly limits have not changed, so the 10x is not a cut. It is the first time the pricing page puts a number on the week for the top plan.
| Plan | Every 5 hours | Every week |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | 1x | 1x |
| Max | 5x | 5x |
| Ultra | No limit (verified accounts) | 10x |
That matches how heavy users already experienced the plan. The five-hour window refills several times a day, so on a long working day the weekly limit is the one that binds. Our record of SemiAnalysis’s measurements from October 22 made the same point: on two Max 20x accounts, a 19% larger five-hour window came with a 20% smaller weekly budget, and the weekly budget decided what a month was worth. On Ultra, the five-hour window no longer exists for verified accounts, so the week is the only limit left.
§ 03Who gains, and who does not
- Ultra users who work in long bursts. A session that used to stop at the five-hour wall can now run until the weekly limit. That is the point of the change.
- Ultra users who already hit the weekly limit. Nothing changes. The weekly limit is the same, so the total a month allows is the same.
- New Ultra subscribers. They keep a five-hour limit until Anthropic verifies the account.
- Max subscribers at $100. Only the name changes. The five-hour and weekly limits both stay at 5x Pro.
§ 04What the announcement does not say
- What verification means. The post says newer accounts stay limited “until they’re verified” and get an email, but not what verification involves or how long it takes.
- Which subscribers count as existing. The limit is lifted “starting today with most existing subscribers”; the rest are not described.
- Output limits. The October 26 Max card listed “Higher output limits for all tasks.” Neither new card mentions output limits, and the post does not say whether that changed.
- The A/B test. Nothing in the post addresses the different weekly budgets SemiAnalysis measured on October 22.
Anthropic’s own pricing page carries the usual caveat: “Price and plans are subject to change at Anthropic’s discretion.”
§ 05Where CellCog stands
Our conflict, declared: CellCog’s AI employees reason on Claude Opus 5.5 through Anthropic’s API, not through a consumer plan, so these limits do not apply to them. A business on CellCog pays for the work its AI employees do, not for a seat with a five-hour window. For anyone choosing between the plans for their own use, the question is the same one SemiAnalysis raised: which limit do you actually hit?
Q1Is Claude Ultra more expensive than Max 20x?
No. Ultra is the old Max 20x, still $200 a month. Max, the old Max 5x, is still $100.
Q2Did weekly limits change?
Anthropic says weekly limits remain unchanged. The new pricing page states Ultra’s weekly usage as 10x Pro.
Q3Why was it called 20x if the week is 10x?
The old page described Max 20x as 20 times Pro’s usage per 5-hour session. The weekly multiple was not on the card until now.
Q4Do Max and Ultra include Fable?
Yes. Both include Fable for up to half the weekly limit, as they did before the rename.
Q5Does this affect CellCog's AI employees?
No. They run on Claude Opus 5.5 through Anthropic’s API, not a consumer plan, so plan limits do not apply.