Claude Code weekly limits:
what changed after 2026-09-13
Fetched 2026-09-20, the help centre reads in the past tense: the +50% weekly boost ran 2026-05-13 to 2026-09-13, while @ClaudeDevs on 2026-08-29 gave 2026-09-14. Since 2026-09-14 standard weekly limits are 25% above pre-promotion. Five-hour limits were unaffected; it covered Pro, Max, Team and legacy seat-based Enterprise.
Updated 2026-09-21
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Four facts that matter
Last day of the promotion
Official wording, in the past tense: "It ran from May 13 through September 13, 2026".
The ended weekly limit uplift
A limited-time promotion from 2026-05-13 to 2026-09-13, applied automatically with nothing to configure.
The window that does not change
Official wording: "5-hour usage limits were not affected by this promotion". Only the weekly layer moved.
How to check for yourself
Run /usage in the CLI to see the limit your account actually has — more reliable than any second-hand account.
First, separate the weekly limit from the 5-hour window
Claude Code throttles on two layers: a rolling five-hour window and a weekly limit that resets on a fixed schedule. Only the second one is changing. People tend to attribute every "I got limited again" to the weekly limit, when repeated daytime throttling is usually the five-hour window — which this change does not touch at all. Confusing the two leads to the wrong fix: switching plans when all you needed was to wait a few hours.
What the official page says (fetched 2026-09-20)
The help centre article "Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion", fetched 2026-09-20, is in the past tense: "It ran from May 13 through September 13, 2026." It defines the offer as a limited-time promotion that "increased weekly usage limits in Claude Code by 50%", over 2026-05-13 to 2026-09-13; five-hour usage limits were not affected; no action was required. @ClaudeDevs on 2026-08-29 gave 2026-09-14. Since 2026-09-14 standard weekly limits are 25% above pre-promotion; the ~17% step down is our arithmetic.
Timeline
Promotion begins: weekly usage limits in Claude Code are 50% higher, applied automatically.
Last day of the promotion. The official page previously gave an end date in August and was later extended to this date.
The first day after the promotion. The help centre states that since 2026-09-14 standard weekly limits are 25% higher than before the promotion; the article puts the boost's last day at 2026-09-13, while @ClaudeDevs on 2026-08-29 gave 2026-09-14. The ~17% step down is our arithmetic — treat your own /usage reading as authoritative.
Stated in the help centre vs needing another source
Stated in the help centre
① A limited-time promotion raising weekly limits by 50%. ② It ran 2026-05-13 to 2026-09-13 (past tense, 2026-09-20 fetch). ③ Five-hour limits not affected. ④ Pro, Max, Team, legacy seat-based Enterprise; free and consumption-based seats out. ⑤ No action required. ⑥ Since 2026-09-14 standard limits 25% above pre-promotion.
Needs another source
The two sources differ on the end date: the help centre gives 2026-09-13, the @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29 gives "+50% until September 14". The ~17% step down is ours, not official wording: we divide 1.25 by 1.50, while the article only states that weekly limits are 25% above pre-promotion. Your own /usage reading stays the final word.
Two kinds of throttling, handled differently
Hitting the five-hour window
The common one. It clears as the window rolls forward, usually within hours, and this promotion change does not affect it at all. If you are being limited repeatedly within a day, check whether this is what is happening before doing anything else.
Hitting the weekly limit
You wait for the weekly reset. During the promotion (2026-05-13 to 2026-09-13) that allowance was 50% higher than standard; since 2026-09-14 the new standard is 25% above pre-promotion. Heavy users feel this layer most.
What to do after 09-13 has passed
① The promotion has ended, so run /usage and write down the standard weekly limit your account has; if you kept a reading from the promotion, compare the two — the difference is right there. ② If your workflow already runs close to the weekly ceiling, plan the downgrade path: move batch work that does not need the top model to a cheaper tier, or push peak load onto a pay-as-you-go channel. ③ Do not defer the change until you are up against the wall again — by then there is no headroom left to experiment with.
The pay-as-you-go route
A subscription's weekly limit is fundamentally a throttle: once the allowance is gone you wait. Pay-as-you-go has no such layer — it deducts against actual token consumption with no daily or weekly allowance, and it keeps running as long as the balance holds. The trade-off is that cost scales linearly with usage rather than being capped. The two are not substitutes: peaks and batch jobs stall less on metered billing, and whether a top-tier official subscription can even be purchased is a Help Center fact (new ChatGPT Pro $200 sign-ups paused as of 2026-09-10). QCode provides the metered path, at vendor list rate times a service multiplier, and does not resell any vendor subscription.
FAQ
What exactly is the end date?
It ended. The help centre puts the last day at 2026-09-13, while the @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29 gives "+50% until September 14", i.e. 2026-09-14. This page lists both dates instead of merging them into one.
Did it change my 5-hour limits too?
No. The official wording is "5-hour usage limits were not affected by this promotion". Only the weekly layer moved.
I am on Team. Did it apply to me?
It did: Pro, Max and Team plans plus legacy seat-based Enterprise users, with free plans and consumption-based seats excluded. Since 2026-09-14 the 25% uplift covers those same plans.
How much did my allowance drop when it ended?
The help centre gives the baseline: since 2026-09-14 standard weekly limits are 25% higher than before the promotion. How far that sits below the promo level is our own arithmetic — about 17% — so record your /usage figure to be sure.
Did I need to do anything to get the uplift?
No. The official page states "No action was required to participate"; eligible plans got it automatically. The promotion ended 2026-09-13.
I hit the weekly limit often. Is there a structural fix?
Two: move work that does not need the top model down to a cheaper tier, and put peak or batch load onto a metered channel that has no weekly allowance at all. The first saves money, the second removes the "out of allowance, just wait" failure mode. Most teams end up doing both.
Sources
Promotion dates, the five-hour exemption, eligible plans, automatic application and the post-promotion baseline: Anthropic's help centre article "Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion" (support.claude.com/en/articles/15910845, fetched 2026-09-20, past tense; it contains "It ran from May 13 through September 13, 2026" and "starting September 14, 2026, weekly limits in Claude Code are 25% higher than they were before the promotion"). The other end date, "+50% until September 14", comes from Anthropic's @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29, post 2093742321473065266; both are listed. The ~17% figure is our arithmetic. The official pages and your own /usage reading govern.
Record your /usage figure first
The promotion ended; run /usage and compare — more reliable than any summary.
Further reading
The Claude Code five-hour window explained
How the rolling window is counted, when it clears, and how it differs from the weekly limit.
Claude Code auto mode guide
Interactive sessions now default to auto mode (docs say 2.1.283, changelog 2.1.284): the six permission modes, how to turn it off, and notes for teams and CI.
Claude Code with Chinese models: setup guide
One cr_ key for DeepSeek, GLM, Kimi and Qwen in Claude Code: same address, switch with /model.
The official wording here was fetched 2026-09-20 and is already past tense; the promotion ended 2026-09-13, while @ClaudeDevs on 2026-08-29 gave 2026-09-14 — both are listed. Anthropic's help centre page and your own /usage reading in the CLI govern.