Anthropic tweaks timed usage limits to discourage Claude demand during peak hours

Anthropic on Wednesday adjusted its opaque usage limits for Claude customers by reducing the power of the services it delivers during times of peak demand, in an effort to balance demand with its capacity to deliver service.

In a social media post, Thariq Shihipar, a member of Anthropic's technical team, wrote: "To manage growing demand for Claude we're adjusting our five hour session limits for free/Pro/Max subs during peak hours. Your weekly limits remain unchanged."

The change means that during peak hours – 05:00 – 11:00 PT or 13:00 – 19:00 GMT – Claude users could burn five hours’ worth of usage time in under five hours. At other times of day, a five-hour access allowance will allow five hours of access. That odd definition of timed use is possible because Anthropic ties hourly use to token consumption – without revealing exactly how many tokens it ties ...