Claude's former Max 20x subscription is now called Ultra, with the same $200 monthly web price. Verified Ultra accounts can use their weekly allowance without a five-hour session cap. The plan still has a weekly ceiling, so the change does not provide unlimited use.
For subscribers choosing between Max and Ultra, the practical comparison is how often limits interrupt their work, how much capacity they need across the week, and whether they will use the separate API credit. Existing Max 20x subscribers move to Ultra automatically, according to Anthropic's Ultra help page.
What $100 and $200 buy
Anthropic's current pricing page lists Max at $100 a month and Ultra at $200. Those are web prices before applicable tax. Both individual plans are billed monthly; mobile subscription prices can differ.
| Plan | Monthly web price | Five-hour allowance | Weekly allowance relative to Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max | $100 | Five times Pro | Five times Pro |
| Ultra | $200 | No session cap for verified accounts | Ten times Pro |
Ultra therefore costs $100 more each month and provides twice Max's stated weekly allowance. Paying those monthly rates for 12 months would cost $1,200 for Max or $2,400 for Ultra, before tax. That is a calculation from current monthly prices, not an annual subscription offer.
Verification happens automatically
Anthropic says it verifies Ultra accounts using factors including account and payment history. Accounts awaiting verification retain a temporary limit. There is no separate verification task for a subscriber to complete, and verifying a phone number at checkout does not remove the restriction.
To check the account's status, open Settings, then Usage. If the Current session bar is absent, the account is verified, according to the Ultra documentation. A newly purchased Ultra subscription should not be treated as a promise that its five-hour restriction has already disappeared.
Weekly capacity and conversation length are separate
Anthropic's usage-limit documentation says usage across Claude's website, Claude Code and Claude Desktop draws on the same allowance. Switching between those surfaces does not create a fresh subscription budget.
Weekly allowances reset at a fixed time assigned to the account. The reset day and time stay the same regardless of when a subscriber starts a session. The Usage screen shows the next reset.
A conversation's length limit is a different constraint from the amount of subscription usage available. Longer or more complex conversations, the selected model, features and effort setting can affect how quickly usage is consumed. A multiple of Pro's allowance does not specify a fixed number of messages for every task.
API credits have their own restrictions
Anthropic's API credit documentation lists $100 in monthly credit for Max and $200 for Ultra. New subscribers become eligible to claim after seven days on an eligible plan in good standing.
The credits go to one linked Claude Console organization. They expire at the end of each billing cycle instead of rolling over. They cover eligible Claude Platform use, including API requests, but do not pay for interactive Claude Code or extra subscription usage after a plan limit is reached.
The credit is useful only if the subscriber has eligible API work to run. Someone who uses Claude entirely through chat should not subtract its face value from the subscription price as though it were a cash refund.
Anthropic's supplemental credit terms say credits are nonrefundable, cannot be transferred or sold, and have no cash value. For the bundled monthly credit, the plan's help page specifies expiry at the end of each billing cycle.
When the included API balance runs out, an organization with purchased credits or auto-reload can continue using those paid funds. Without another balance, requests stop until more credits become available. Auto-reload authorizes recurring charges to the payment method on the Console account; the subscription's included credit does not make subsequent API usage free.
Changing plans can change the bill immediately
The Max help page says an upgrade to Ultra is prorated for the remaining billing cycle. Subscribers who have already claimed API credits receive a prorated credit increase, followed by the higher amount in subsequent cycles.
For an existing subscriber considering that upgrade, the Usage screen provides the relevant distinction: reaching a session cap while weekly capacity remains is different from exhausting the week's allowance. Ultra's verified-account exception addresses the former; its larger weekly budget addresses the latter.
