What Claude's weekly limits show about subscription resale
A flat-rate plan priced for one person becomes cheap token supply when it is shared. Anthropic answered in 2025 with a weekly cap on Pro and Max subscribers, and software that shares subscriptions as an API appeared five months later.
CaseHarry Johnston, NoResponse Research6 min read
Claude weekly limits for Pro and Max subscribers date from 28 July 2025. That day Anthropic said a small number of subscribers were "sharing and reselling accounts", and that one had consumed "tens of thousands in model usage on a $200 plan". For a platform that sells a flat-rate plan, it is a detailed public case of subscription resale and account sharing forcing a change on every subscriber. In our token fraud guide this is resale in breach of terms, where a plan sold to one person is run as an API for many.
At a glance
- On 28 July 2025, Anthropic announced weekly limits for Claude Pro and Max and said they would apply to "less than 5% of subscribers".
- The same thread said one subscriber had consumed "tens of thousands in model usage on a $200 plan".
- The limits took effect on 28 August 2025. Anthropic's email to Max subscribers gave weekly hours for Sonnet 4 and Opus 4, its 2025 models, so those figures do not describe today's plans.
- sub2api, open-source software that pools Claude, OpenAI, Gemini and Grok subscriptions behind one API, appeared on GitHub on 18 December 2025. It had more than 40,000 stars by October 2026.
- In September 2026 Anthropic said its systems can ask an account that shows signs of resale to verify identity. Accounts that fail are banned.
What Anthropic announced in 2025
Anthropic's thread of 28 July 2025 opened: "We're rolling out new weekly rate limits for Claude Pro and Max in late August. We estimate they'll apply to less than 5% of subscribers based on current usage."
It gave two reasons. The first was heavy use. Anthropic wrote that "Some of the biggest Claude Code fans are running it continuously in the background, 24/7." It went on: "a few outlying cases are very costly to support. For example, one user consumed tens of thousands in model usage on a $200 plan."
The second was resale. "In other cases, a small number of users are violating our usage policies by sharing and reselling accounts. This impacts capacity for all Claude users, and we're taking appropriate action to stop it."
The email to Max subscribers, posted in full on Hacker News, said "we've identified policy violations like account sharing and reselling access". The limits began on 28 August. "Most Max 20x users can expect 240-480 hours of Sonnet 4 and 24-40 hours of Opus 4 within their weekly rate limits," it said, and anyone who hit the ceiling could "purchase more usage at standard API rates". Those hours were for the 2025 models and do not describe the current plans.
Anthropic's terms are explicit. Claude Code's legal page says "Advertised usage limits for Pro and Max plans assume ordinary, individual usage of Claude Code and the Agent SDK", and bars developers from routing requests "through Free, Pro, or Max plan credentials on behalf of their users".
What Anthropic added in 2026
In its September 2026 threat report, Anthropic described a step aimed at the account. When its systems detect signs of potential abuse, such as "the unauthorized resale of Claude", they can ask the account holder to verify their identity to keep access. "Accounts that fail to do so are banned."
The same report shows why the step is needed. One account it examined was a relay, with more than a dozen unrelated customers behind one login sending tens of thousands of messages in a few days.
Why a shared flat-rate plan creates cheap token supply
A flat-rate plan is priced for one person, with gaps for sleep and weekends. By Anthropic's own figure, "tens of thousands" at API rates on one $200 plan is at least 50 times the price paid. Share the plan and nothing idles. The Chinese market calls this 拼车, "carpool", where several buyers split one subscription. sub2api describes itself in our translation as "a one-stop open-source relay service that puts Claude, OpenAI, Gemini and Grok subscriptions behind one access point, supports carpool sharing and splits costs more efficiently". A reseller who buys tokens at the flat rate can sell them below the lab's API price, and no reseller paying API rates can match that margin.
From the announcement to October 2026
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 28 July 2025 | Anthropic announces weekly limits and cites "sharing and reselling accounts" | Anthropic on X; email to Max subscribers |
| 28 August 2025 | Limits take effect, with a separate weekly limit for Opus 4 | Email to Max subscribers |
| 18 December 2025 | sub2api is created on GitHub to share subscriptions as an API | GitHub |
| 21 August 2026 | OpenAI says Codex subscribers with odd limits were often using sub2api | Tibo on X |
| 8 September 2026 | US agencies say China-based AI companies buy premium subscriptions in bulk and share them across teams | Joint advisory AA26-251A |
| September 2026 | Anthropic says accounts flagged for resale may have to verify identity, and those that fail are banned | Anthropic threat report |
| October 2026 | sub2api has more than 40,000 GitHub stars | GitHub |
The weekly cap fell on heavy users and left resale running
The cap put the cost of resale onto Anthropic's heaviest real customers, the fewer than 5% of subscribers who ran Claude Code round the clock. It offered them API rates as the way out. A reseller meets the same ceiling and buys more plans. Five months after the announcement, sub2api went up on GitHub. By August 2026 OpenAI was drawing the same line for Codex against the same software. Our guide to transfer stations lists shared subscriptions as a source of cheap tokens.
The number that decides whether a plan gets shared is the ratio between its price and the value of its included usage at API rates. While that ratio favours the buyer, people will share the plan, and a cap sets only how many plans a reseller needs. Anthropic's 2026 identity step goes after the flagged account, so the reseller pays for the check and other subscribers do not.
What this means for your platform
If you sell a flat-rate plan, run these checks before you reach for a cap. Our token resale guide covers each one in more depth.
- Price the plan against its usage. Work out what a plan's included usage would cost at your own API rates. The wider the gap, the more a reseller earns from each plan and the sooner sharing starts.
- Watch for one login serving many people. Look for use around the clock with no idle hours and for many networks and time zones in one day. Requests from gateway software in place of your own client are another sign. The US agencies' advisory lists accounts shared across many IP addresses and user agents among its warning signs.
- Act on the account. Ask a flagged account to verify, as Anthropic now does, and leave heavy single users on the plan they paid for.
- Keep a person between the flag and the ban. A shared plan and a heavy user can look alike for a day or two. Our Codex case shows what happened when OpenAI's anti-abuse systems rate limited real customers by mistake.
Behavioural Intelligence, which is coming soon, will learn how each account uses your platform, so a plan that starts to behave like several people stands out before any cap bites.
Book a demo to see which of your flat-rate accounts behave like more than one person.
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Questions people ask
Why did Anthropic add weekly limits to Claude?
Anthropic said on 28 July 2025 that a few subscribers were running Claude Code continuously and that others were sharing and reselling accounts, which affected capacity for everyone. It expected the limits to apply to less than 5% of subscribers.
When did Claude's weekly limits start?
On 28 August 2025. They sit alongside the existing five-hour limit, and Anthropic added a separate weekly limit for Claude Opus 4 at the same time.
Does Anthropic allow Claude Max account sharing?
No. Its Claude Code legal page says the advertised limits assume ordinary, individual usage, and Anthropic has said that sharing and reselling accounts breaks its usage policies. Since September 2026 it says accounts flagged for resale may have to verify identity or be banned.
What does 拼车 mean for a Claude subscription?
拼车 means "carpool". Several buyers split the cost of one Pro or Max plan and use it through shared software. Anthropic's terms treat a plan's limits as being for one person, so a carpool breaches them.
Did the weekly limits stop account sharing and resale?
No. Software built to share subscriptions as an API appeared five months later and had more than 40,000 GitHub stars by October 2026. OpenAI described the same pattern on Codex in August 2026.
How can a platform detect account sharing on a flat-rate plan?
Look at behaviour on each account. Signs include use around the clock, many networks in one day, gateway software in the request headers and prompts with nothing in common. Confirm with a step such as identity verification before you ban.
Sources
- We're rolling out new weekly rate limits for Claude Pro and Max in late AugustAnthropic (@AnthropicAI) on X, 28 July 2025
- Some of the biggest Claude Code fans are running it continuously in the background, 24/7Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) on X, 28 July 2025
- In other cases, a small number of users are violating our usage policies by sharing and reselling accountsAnthropic (@AnthropicAI) on X, 28 July 2025
- Anthropic email to Max customers Re: Max account usage limitsCopy of Anthropic's email to Max subscribers, posted on Hacker News, 28 July 2025
- Legal and complianceAnthropic, Claude Code documentation, fetched 19 October 2026
- Countering misuse of AI: September 2026Anthropic, threat intelligence report, September 2026, fetched 19 October 2026
- Wei-Shaw/sub2apiGitHub repository, created 18 December 2025; star count checked 19 October 2026
- We've investigated a few messages about codex usage limits being differentTibo (@thsottiaux), Codex and ChatGPT at OpenAI according to his X profile, 21 August 2026
- China-Based Artificial Intelligence Companies Conducting Industrial-Scale Distillation Campaigns Against U.S. AI CompaniesCISA, NSA and FBI, joint advisory AA26-251A, 8 September 2026