Anthropic has implemented weekly rate limits on its Claude Code tool because it says programmers are using it too much.
According to a series of posts from the company, users have been running Claude Code — the agentic side of one of the best ChatGPT alternatives — "continuously in the background, 24/7."
Claude Code is only available through Anthropic's paid-for Pro and Max subscription plans. It sits inside the Claude chatbot and uses natural language to help with coding tasks, from generating the code and debugging it to building out applications with a supplied SDK and integrating with Github.
The most expensive Max plan, like other AI providers, runs to $200 a month, so you may think the customers are just trying to get their money's worth.
But running the tool continuously adds up to some serious costs for Anthropic which has to manage both compute load and environmental costs to provide the service.
Some of the biggest Claude Code fans are running it continuously in the background, 24/7.These uses are remarkable and we want to enable them. But a few outlying cases are very costly to support. For example, one user consumed tens of thousands in model usage on a $200 plan.July 28, 2025
The company says affected users will start seeing the new weekly rate limits begin in August 28 and says it estimates they'll "apply to less than 5% of subscribers based on current usage."
However, it also notes one user consumed "tens of thousands in model usage" on a $200 plan.
"We’re still exploring the best ways to ensure as broad access as possible to Claude Code," the company said in a follow-up tweet. "If you’re a power user who has feedback on how we can support your specific use of Claude Code, we’d love to hear from you."
For anyone that does go over the limits, they'll have the option to purchase more usage above and beyond their subscription payments. And if you've not used Claude yourself yet, here's why we think Anthropic's AI chatbot is quietly crushing it when compared to ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
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