Claude's $100 Max 5x plan is now Max and the $200 Max 20x plan is now Ultra. Prices don't change. Ultra loses the rolling 5-hour cap once Anthropic verifies the account, and both plans now include monthly API credits equal to their price. The weekly limit still applies.
Anthropic renamed its two top Claude plans on October 30 and changed how the more expensive one is limited. Max 5x is now called Max. Max 20x is now called Ultra. The prices stay at $100 and $200 a month. The real change is on Ultra: once Anthropic verifies your account, the rolling 5-hour usage window goes away.
What changed
Confirmed on Claude’s pricing page (read October 30, 2026; prices exclude tax):
| Plan | Price | Usage | API credits included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly ($200 up front) | More than Free, every 5 hours and every week | None listed |
| Max (was Max 5x) | $100 a month | 5x Pro, every 5 hours and every week; Fable included, up to half the weekly limit | $100 a month (new) |
| Ultra (was Max 20x) | $200 a month | 10x Pro every week, no 5-hour limit for verified accounts | $200 a month (new) |
According to The New Stack, current subscribers don’t need to do anything: their plan switches to the new name on its own.
The catch: verification and the weekly cap
The 5-hour limit only goes away after verification. The pricing page limits the change to “verified accounts.” The New Stack reports, citing Anthropic, that verification runs automatically from your account and payment history. You can’t request it or speed it up. Anthropic emails you when the cap is lifted.
The weekly limit stays. Ultra still has a weekly allowance, and chats on web, desktop and mobile draw from the same pool as Claude Code sessions. Without the 5-hour pause, a heavy user can reach the weekly limit sooner. Past that point, you can turn on usage credits and pay standard API rates on top of the subscription.
One number to watch. The pricing page lists Ultra at 10x Pro usage per week, while the old plan name said 20x. The New Stack says Ultra’s weekly allowance is unchanged. Anthropic hasn’t explained the gap between the old name and the new figure, so we’re keeping this open until it does.
What it means if you pay for Claude
Upgrade to Ultra only if the 5-hour window is what stops you. The plan helps people who hit the session cap halfway through a long refactor or an all-day agent run while weekly usage is still left. If you already run out before the week ends, Ultra’s missing session cap gives you no extra work time. Paying $100 more a month buys you no more included usage than you get today.
Count the API credits if you build on Claude. Max now includes $100 a month in Claude Platform API credits and Ultra includes $200. If your team already pays for API usage while it prototypes, those credits offset part of the subscription. Check how they apply to your account before you cancel a separate API budget.
Pro users can ignore this one. Anthropic announced no change to the $20 plan.
The move follows OpenAI raising usage limits for its own Pro and Business Premium subscribers a day earlier, The New Stack reports. Flat-rate AI plans are now competing on how long you can work without a pause. For the agent tools these plans run, see Claude Duet and how 1Password signs agents into accounts.