Claude Max vs Ultra — the plan that used to be Max 20x
Max is $100 a month for 5x Pro's usage every five hours and every week. Ultra is $200 for 10x Pro's weekly usage with no five-hour limit on verified accounts. Per unit of weekly usage both cost $20, so Ultra is not a volume discount. You pay for the missing session wall, and the extra $100 comes back as $100 more of monthly API credit.
| Category | Winner | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price · web subscription | AClaude Max | $100 against $200. Both are monthly only, with no standing discount |
| Weekly usage · against Pro | BUltra | 10x Pro a week against 5x. Twice the weekly room for twice the price |
| Five-hour limit · the session wall | BUltra | None on a verified Ultra account. Max keeps a five-hour window at 5x Pro |
| Cost per unit of usage · price ÷ the weekly multiple | ·Same | $20 per Pro-week on both. The old 20x tier halved this; Ultra does not |
| Monthly API credit · Claude Platform, not chat | BUltra | $200 against $100. On both plans the credit equals the price |
| Fable allowance · Anthropic's top model | BUltra | Up to half the weekly limit on both, so Ultra's Fable room is twice Max's in absolute terms |
| Features · everything that is not usage | ·Identical | Apps, models, context, priority access and payment options match across the two columns of Anthropic's plan table |
| Billing flexibility · monthly or annual | ·Neither | Both are monthly only. Annual billing exists for Pro, not for Max or Ultra |
| Risk of overpaying · unused headroom | AClaude Max | Max is $1,200 a year against $2,400. It is the cheaper mistake if you rarely hit a limit |
| Best overall | ·Depends | Ultra if the five-hour wall stops your work most days. Max if it does not |
CHOOSE A · MAX
If you hit a limit some weeks, not most days.
- Half the outlay: $100 a month, $1,200 a year
- The same unit cost: $20 per Pro-week, exactly what Ultra charges
- Every Max feature: priority access at high traffic times and early access to new features are on both plans
- $100 of API credit a month, which covers the Claude API, the Console Playground, Managed Agents and the Agent SDK
- A safety valve: usage credits at standard API rates turn a heavy week into a one-off charge
- Prorated upgrade: moving to Ultra mid-cycle is charged pro rata, so starting on Max costs nothing
CHOOSE B · ULTRA
If the five-hour wall stops your working day.
- No five-hour limit on a verified account. Only the weekly limit applies
- 10x Pro's weekly usage, twice what Max allows
- $200 of API credit a month. If you would spend it on the API anyway, the second $100 pays for itself
- Twice the Fable room: up to half of a weekly limit that is twice as large
- Keeps the one-hour cache: Claude Code caches for an hour inside plan usage and for five minutes on usage credits
- Same price as Max 20x: existing 20x subscribers moved to Ultra with no price change
| Aspect | Claude Max | Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Plan priceindividual, web subscription | $100/month From the Help Center's Max article. claude.com/pricing shows the price in your local currency. Mobile pricing may differ by app platform A wins | $200/month From the Help Center's Ultra article, with the same mobile caveat. It is the price Max 20x had |
| Usage includedrelative to Pro | 5x Pro Every five hours and every week, shared across chat, desktop, mobile and Claude Code | 10x Pro weekly No five-hour limit on a verified account. Unverified accounts get a temporary session limit until Anthropic verifies them B wins |
| Price per unit of usagemonthly price ÷ the weekly multiple | $20 per Pro-week $100 ÷ 5. The same as a monthly Pro subscription, and more than the $17 an annual Pro subscriber pays | $20 per Pro-week $200 ÷ 10. Max 20x worked out at $10 a unit. The renamed plan does not discount usage; it removes the session wall |
| Monthly API creditClaude Platform, separate from plan usage | $100/month Claimable after seven days on the plan, into one linked Console organization. Unused credit expires each billing cycle | $200/month Same rules. Upgrading from Max adds prorated credit at once, then $200 each cycle B wins |
| Annual outlaytwelve months, no discount available | $1,200/year Anthropic offers no standing discount on Pro, Max or Ultra, and support cannot issue coupons A wins | $2,400/year The gap is $1,200 a year, and $1,200 of extra API credit if you use all of it |
| Overagewhat happens past the limit | Usage credits Prepaid, billed at standard API rates, with a monthly spend limit and optional auto-reload | Usage credits Same mechanism and rates. The monthly API credit does not pay for usage credits on either plan |
| Moving between the plansupgrade mechanics | Prorated upgrade Max to Ultra is charged pro rata for the rest of the billing cycle A wins | Same billing engine From an annual Pro plan, an unused balance above the new price becomes account credit, if the billing address matches |
| Capability | Claude Max | Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $100 | $200 |
| Five-hour limit | 5x Pro | None on verified accounts |
| Weekly limit | 5x Pro | 10x Pro |
| Cost per Pro-week of usage | $20 | $20 |
| Fable | Up to 50% of the weekly limit | Up to 50% of the weekly limit |
| Opus, Sonnet, Haiku | ✓ All three | ✓ All three |
| Context window | Up to 1M, varies by model | Up to 1M, varies by model |
| Claude Code | ✓ Same usage pool as chat | ✓ Same usage pool as chat |
| Monthly API credit | $100 | $200 |
| API credit pays for interactive Claude Code | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Priority access at high traffic times | ✓ Pro does not get it | ✓ Pro does not get it |
| Early access to advanced features | ✓ Listed on the Max card | ✓ Everything in Max |
| Usage credits past the limit | ✓ Standard API rates | ✓ Standard API rates |
| Prompt cache in Claude Code, inside plan usage | 1 hour | 1 hour |
| Prompt cache on usage credits | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Annual billing | ✗ Monthly only | ✗ Monthly only |
| Standing discounts | ✗ None | ✗ None |
| Payment methods | Credit card. No ACH, no invoicing | Credit card. No ACH, no invoicing |
| SSO, SCIM, audit logs | ✗ Team and Enterprise only | ✗ Team and Enterprise only |
| Model training on your content | Opt-out | Opt-out |
| Where you see what is left | Settings › Usage, /usage in Claude Code | Settings › Usage, /usage in Claude Code |
A · MAX
Claude Max
Every Max feature at the lower price, and the same cost per unit as Ultra.
Strengths
- $1,200 a year: half the commitment, and the cheaper direction to be wrong in
- 5x Pro every five hours and every week, from one pool across chat, desktop, mobile and Claude Code
- $20 per Pro-week, which is what Ultra charges too
- The same models and context: Fable, Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, up to 1M tokens on the newest models
- $100 of API credit a month for anything you build on the Claude Platform
- Free to change your mind: the upgrade to Ultra is prorated
Weaknesses
- The five-hour wall stays: a long session can stop mid-task and wait for the window to reset
- The weekly limit applies too, and it resets on a fixed day assigned to your account
- Parallel agents use it fast: Anthropic's docs say agent-team token use is roughly proportional to team size
- Monthly only: no annual price to soften the outlay
Best for
- Daily users whose heavy days are occasional rather than routine
- Anyone stepping up from Pro who wants priority access and API credit
- People who would rather pay a small overage bill than a larger plan
B · ULTRA
Ultra
No session wall, twice the weekly room, and twice the API credit.
Strengths
- No five-hour limit once Anthropic verifies the account, which it does from account and payment history
- 10x Pro's weekly usage, twice Max's
- $200 of API credit a month. The extra $100 of price returns $100 of credit
- Twice the Fable room in absolute terms
- Keeps the long cache: staying inside plan usage keeps Claude Code's one-hour prompt cache
- Right-sized for long runs: agent loops and all-day Claude Code sessions are what the session wall interrupts
Weaknesses
- No cheaper per unit: $20 per Pro-week, the same as Max. Max 20x was $10
- Twice the standing cost: $2,400 a year, with no annual discount
- Still capped weekly: a heavy Monday and Tuesday can use the week
- New accounts wait: a temporary session limit applies until verification, and verifying a phone number does not lift it
- The credit is use-it-or-lose-it: it expires each cycle and does not pay for interactive Claude Code
Best for
- Engineers running Claude Code or agents through most of a working day
- People who already build on the Claude API and would spend $200 a month there anyway
- Anyone whose work stalls every time a five-hour limit lands
01
You just hit a limit for the first time
You are on Pro, you met the session limit once during a long refactor, and the upgrade prompt appeared.
Reasoning: One wall is not a pattern. Max costs $20 per Pro-week, the same as Pro, so stepping up buys room rather than value. If the heavy day was a one-off, usage credits at API rates would have covered it. Turn them on with a low monthly limit and let a month of data decide.
Picked
Claude Max
Runner-up: Stay on Pro with usage credits on and a low spend limit
02
Claude Code is your working day
You run agents from morning to evening on a large repository, and the five-hour window lands most days before you are done.
Reasoning: This is the case Ultra is built for. A verified Ultra account has no five-hour limit, so the session wall stops interrupting long runs. Weekly room doubles at the same unit cost. Paying usage credits to get past the wall on Max costs API rates, and Claude Code's prompt cache drops from an hour to five minutes while you do.
Picked
Ultra
Runner-up: Max with a generous usage-credit limit, if your heavy days cluster
03
You already pay for the Claude API
You build a product on the Claude API and spend a few hundred dollars a month there.
Reasoning: Both plans return their price as monthly API credit: $100 on Max, $200 on Ultra. If your API bill is above $200 anyway, Ultra's chat and Claude Code usage costs you nothing extra once the credit is claimed into your Console organization. Check the limits first. The credit expires each cycle, links to one organization, and does not cover Bedrock or Vertex.
Picked
Ultra
Runner-up: Max, if your API spend sits between $100 and $200
04
You want priority, not volume
Your usage is moderate but you work at peak hours and want the queue to move.
Reasoning: Priority access at high traffic times arrives on Max. Ultra adds usage and credit, not more priority. Buy Max and keep the other $100.
Picked
Claude Max
Runner-up: Pro, if the peak-hour queue is tolerable
05
You are budgeting a year in advance
You need one number for a finance form and would like to pay up front for a discount.
Reasoning: There is no discount to find. Max and Ultra are monthly only, and Anthropic offers no standing discount on individual plans. The year is $1,200 or $2,400 flat. If one annual invoice matters more than the plan, annual Pro or a Team plan are the routes to one.
Picked
Claude Max
Runner-up: Ultra, if the higher plan is genuinely needed, since neither can be discounted
Frequently asked.
Common questions about this comparison, with sources where they matter.
Q · 01 Is Claude Ultra the same as Max 20x? +
Same price, different shape. Anthropic's Help Center says the Max 20x plan is now called Ultra, and existing Max 20x subscribers moved to it automatically with no price change. Ultra is $200 a month. It gives 10x Pro's weekly usage with no five-hour limit on verified accounts, where Max 20x was described as 20x Pro's session usage. It also carries $200 a month of API credit.
Q · 02 What does Ultra have that Max does not? +
Three things. No five-hour limit on a verified account, twice the weekly usage (10x Pro against 5x), and twice the monthly API credit ($200 against $100). Everything else in Anthropic's plan table matches: the apps, Fable, Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, the context windows, priority access, early access, payment options and the training opt-out.
Q · 03 Is Ultra better value than Max? +
Not per unit. Max is $100 for 5x Pro's weekly usage and Ultra is $200 for 10x, so both cost $20 per Pro-week. That is also what a monthly Pro subscription costs. Ultra's value is the missing five-hour wall and the API credit. If you would spend $200 a month on the Claude API anyway, Ultra's subscription usage is effectively free.
Q · 04 What is a verified Ultra account? +
One Anthropic has checked automatically, using account and payment history. Verified accounts have no five-hour limit. Until then a temporary session limit applies, and Anthropic removes it on its own. Verifying your phone number at checkout is a separate step and does not lift it. In Settings › Usage, no Current session bar means the account is verified.
Q · 05 Can I use the monthly API credit in Claude Code? +
Not in interactive Claude Code. The credit covers the Claude API (Messages and Message Batches), the Console Playground, Claude Managed Agents and the Agent SDK. It does not pay for interactive Claude Code in the terminal, IDE, desktop or web, for usage credits, or for Claude on Bedrock, Vertex AI or Foundry. Unused credit expires at the end of each billing cycle.
Q · 06 Can I pay for Max or Ultra annually? +
No. Both are monthly subscriptions only, and Anthropic offers no standing discount on Pro, Max or Ultra. Support cannot issue one-off coupons. A year costs $1,200 on Max and $2,400 on Ultra. Annual billing exists for Pro, at $17 a month paid up front.
Q · 07 What happens when I hit the limit on either plan? +
You wait for the reset, upgrade, or switch to usage credits. Credits are prepaid and billed at standard API rates, with a monthly spend limit and optional auto-reload. They work the same on Pro, Max and Ultra. One cost is easy to miss: Claude Code keeps a one-hour prompt cache inside plan usage but uses a five-minute cache on usage credits, so a long session past the limit re-bills context more often.
Q · 08 If I start on Max and outgrow it, does upgrading cost me? +
No penalty. Moving from Max to Ultra is charged pro rata for the rest of the billing cycle, and if you have claimed API credit you get prorated credit at once, then $200 each cycle. Coming from an annual Pro plan, any unused balance above the new price becomes account credit, but only if the billing address matches the old subscription.