Claude Code usage limits and peak hours

How Claude’s 5-hour and weekly subscription limits work, what changed around peak hours in 2026, and what applies today.

In short: since May 6, 2026, Claude Code’s 5-hour limits are doubled on Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans, and the faster peak-hour drain for Pro and Max is gone. Weekly limits still apply.

Two layers of limits

The 5-hour window. Session usage is measured in a five-hour window, after which it resets.

The weekly limit. Since late August 2025 a weekly cap sits on top of the 5-hour window to curb continuous, around-the-clock usage.

Limits are shared between Claude on the web, the apps and Claude Code on the same account. Exact amounts depend on your plan, model and context length — see the Claude Help Center for current numbers.

Peak hours in 2026: what happened

• March 2026. Anthropic said that on weekdays from 5 to 11 AM Pacific, 5-hour limits would drain faster because of rising demand. Weekly limits were unchanged.
• May 6, 2026. In an announcement, Anthropic doubled Claude Code’s 5-hour limits for Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise, and removed the peak-hours limit reduction for Claude Code on Pro and Max.

The upshot: your limit no longer drains faster at peak, but the service is still under the most load in that window — you can see it on the heatmap. Peak hours still affect response speed and how often you see overloaded errors.

Getting more done within your limit

• Keep context lean: /clear between unrelated tasks and /compact in long sessions — long context uses more of your limit.
• Match the model to the task with /model: routine edits rarely need the largest model.
• Don’t resend a prompt just because a reply is slow.

Everything in one place: how to save Claude Code limits.

This page summarises Anthropic’s public statements. Hourglyph is independent and has no access to internal limit data.