'A small thank you to users': Claude extends usage limits for every user, but there's a slight catch

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot, has announced that users on all subscription tiers — even the free one — will see their usage allowances double for the next two weeks.

The company announced the perk on its X account this week as "a small thank you" to its users for the recent support they've shown the company. Claude has seen a surge in new users following the “QuitGPT” movement that has seen people cancelling their ChatGPT subscriptions following backlash over OpenAI’s agreement to deploy its models within U.S. defense networks.

Anthropic rejected a similar deal from the Pentagon and called out OpenAI over its dealings. The result was the app surged to the top of the App Store rankings and more people than ever are choosing Claude.

Anthropic says that users won't need to do anything. The extra allowances will be available to all regular users (Enterprise accounts don't qualify) from Friday, March 13 through Friday, March 27.

Any bonus usage doesn't count towards your regular weekly usage. There is, however, a small catch to be aware of.

Only available outside peak hours

If you take a look at Anthropic's usage promotion page, you'll see the extra usage only applies outside of peak hours.

That means during the week, you'll only be able to take advantage between these times:

• 8am - 2pm ET
• 5am - 11am PT
• 12pm - 6pm GMT
• 11pm - 5am ACT

During the weekend, you can use the extra limits all day. So if you've got a big project you want to get Claude's help on, it's probably best to set aside Saturday or Sunday afternoon to make some real progress.

The 2x usage increase applies across the following Claude surfaces:

• Claude (web, desktop, and mobile)
• Cowork
• Claude Code
• Claude for Excel
• Claude for PowerPoint

This latest offer from Anthropic comes right after it made two of Claude's best features available to free users. The AI's Projects and Artifacts features will transform Claude from a chatbot into a real workspace. Once you get the hang of these features, you can use it to organize information, build usable documents and create tools.

And if you're completely new to Claude, here are six simple starter prompts to get going with.

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