According to TechCrunch, Anthropic announced on Monday that it's rolling out new weekly rate limits for its Claude AI assistant to curb usage among subscribers who have been running Claude Code, the company’s AI coding tool, "continuously in the background, 24/7." The company also aims to stop users who are violating Claude’s usage policy by sharing accounts and reselling access to Claude Code.

These new limits follow a series of performance issues with Claude Code. Anthropic’s status page reveals that the coding tool has experienced at least seven partial or major outages in the last month alone. The company spokesperson, Amie Rotherham, told TechCrunch that "Claude Code has experienced unprecedented demand since launch," suggesting these outages may be linked to excessive usage by power users. Rotherham notes that "most users won’t notice a difference," and that this limit will affect less than 5% of subscribers, based on their current usage patterns.

The new restrictions, set to take effect on August 28, will impact subscribers to Anthropic’s $20-per-month Pro plan as well as its $100 and $200-per-month Max plans. While Anthropic’s existing usage limits, which reset every five hours, will remain in place, the company is introducing two additional weekly rate limits that reset every seven days:

In an email to TechCrunch, Anthropic provided specific usage estimates for different subscription tiers:

Importantly, Anthropic notes that actual usage may vary based on codebase size and other factors. The company measures these limits based on tokens (units of text processed by the AI) rather than time, with rate limits activating when users hit a certain number of tokens.

Anthropic has previously acknowledged that it’s very constrained when it comes to computational resources, a challenge faced by most AI model providers today. The company, like many of its competitors, is working to secure additional computing resources and optimize its infrastructure to meet the massive demands of serving and training their AI models.

This resource constraint appears to be a significant factor in Anthropic’s decision to implement these rate limits. By curbing the usage of the small percentage of power users consuming disproportionate resources, the company aims to maintain reliable service for its broader user base.

In an email to Claude subscribers, Anthropic says it’s committed to "supporting long-running use cases through other options in the future." However, the company claims these rate limits will help them maintain reliable service broadly in the short term.

Anthropic isn’t alone in revisiting pricing strategies for AI coding tools. According to TechCrunch, several other providers have made similar adjustments:

These industry-wide adjustments reflect the ongoing challenge of balancing accessibility with sustainability as companies try to find viable business models for their AI offerings.

Q: When do the new rate limits take effect?
A: The new weekly rate limits will go into effect on August 28, 2025, for subscribers to Anthropic's Pro plan and both Max plans.

Q: Will most Claude subscribers notice these changes?
A: According to Anthropic, the majority of users will not be affected by these changes, as the limits are designed to target only the heaviest users who consume disproportionate computational resources.

Q: Can users purchase additional usage beyond the new limits?
A: Yes, but only Max subscribers will have the option to purchase additional usage beyond what the rate limit provides at standard API rates. Pro users looking for additional capacity will need to upgrade to a Max plan. According to Anthropic's documentation, additional usage will be billed at $15 per million tokens for Claude Opus and $3 per million tokens for Claude Sonnet.

Q: What’s the difference between the two new weekly rate limits?
A: One is an overall usage limit across all Claude services, while the other is specifically for Anthropic's most advanced AI model, Claude Opus 4.

Q: Is Anthropic planning to support heavy usage in the future?
A: Yes, in an email to Claude subscribers, Anthropic stated it’s committed to "supporting long-running use cases through other options in the future." However, the company claims these rate limits will help them maintain reliable service broadly in the short term.

The introduction of these rate limits highlights a growing tension in the AI industry between providing powerful tools at consumer-friendly prices and maintaining sustainable business operations. As AI models become more sophisticated and their applications more compelling, companies like Anthropic must balance explosive demand with the very real constraints of computational resources and operating costs.

For the broader AI ecosystem, this move signals that the current pricing models for advanced AI tools may still be evolving. Early adopters who found ways to extract enormous value from relatively affordable subscription tiers are now facing new limitations as companies adjust their offerings to reflect the true cost of providing these services.

These developments suggest that as AI capabilities continue to advance, we may see further refinement of business models, with clearer distinctions between casual users and those requiring enterprise-grade resources. For developers and businesses relying on AI coding tools, this underscores the importance of planning for potential changes in service terms and exploring multiple providers to ensure continuity of access to critical AI capabilities.

Ultimately, the future of accessible AI depends on how well providers can balance innovation with infrastructure — and how clearly they communicate that balance to their users.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.