Claude Code weekly limits:
what changes after 2026-09-13
From the official help centre (checked 2026-09-02): the +50% weekly limit promotion has run since 2026-05-13 and now runs through 2026-09-13. Five-hour limits are unaffected. It covers Pro, Max, Team and legacy seat-based Enterprise; free plans and consumption-based Enterprise seats are excluded.
Four facts that matter
Last day of the promotion
Official wording: increased weekly limits "now run through September 13, 2026".
The current weekly uplift
A limited-time promotion running since 2026-05-13, applied automatically with nothing to configure.
The window that does not change
Official wording: "5-hour usage limits are not affected by this promotion". Only the weekly layer moves.
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 (checked 2026-09-02)
The help centre article "Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion" states that this is a limited-time promotion increasing weekly usage limits in Claude Code by 50%; that it has been extended and the increased weekly limits now run through September 13, 2026; that the promotion period is 2026-05-13 through 2026-09-13; that five-hour usage limits are not affected; that it applies to Pro, Max and Team plans as well as legacy seat-based users on Enterprise plans, while free plans and consumption-based Enterprise seats are excluded; and that no action is required to participate.
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. Per Anthropic's @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29, weekly limits then sit permanently 25% above the old baseline — which is a step down from the promotional level. This figure comes from the official account's post; the help centre page itself does not restate it, so treat your own /usage reading as authoritative.
Stated in the help centre vs needing another source
Stated in the help centre
① A +50% weekly uplift since 2026-05-13. ② Extended through 2026-09-13. ③ Five-hour limits unaffected. ④ Covers Pro, Max, Team and legacy seat-based Enterprise. ⑤ Free plans and consumption-based Enterprise seats excluded. ⑥ Applied automatically with no action required.
Needs another source
The specific new baseline after the promotion ends — 25% above the old baseline, a step down from today's level — comes from Anthropic's @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29. The help centre page does not restate that number. This page labels it as "from the official account but not in the help centre", and your own /usage reading is 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 that allowance is 50% higher than standard; after 2026-09-13 it returns to the vendor's new standard basis. Sustained heavy users feel this layer the most.
What to do before and after 09-13
① Run /usage now and write down your current weekly limit; run it again after the promotion ends and the difference is right there — no need to rely on anyone's summary. ② If your workflow already runs close to the weekly ceiling, plan the downgrade path in advance: 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 redesign the workflow the day before it ends — by then you have 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: steady load is cheaper on a subscription, while peaks and batch jobs stall less on metered billing. QCode provides the latter, priced at vendor list rate times a service multiplier.
FAQ
What exactly is the end date?
The help centre (checked 2026-09-02) says the increased limits "now run through September 13, 2026", making that the last day. This date has already been extended once, so it is worth rechecking the official page as it approaches.
Do my five-hour limits change too?
No. The official wording is "5-hour usage limits are not affected by this promotion". Only the weekly layer moves.
I am on Team. Does it apply to me?
Yes. The stated scope is Pro, Max and Team plans plus legacy seat-based users on Enterprise plans. Free plans and consumption-based Enterprise seats are excluded.
How much will my allowance drop when it ends?
The help centre page does not give that figure. Anthropic's @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29 says weekly limits will sit permanently 25% above the old baseline, which is a step down from the promotional level. The reliable move is to record your /usage figure now and compare after it ends.
Do I need to do anything to get the uplift?
No. The official page states that no action is required to participate; eligible plans get it automatically, and /usage will confirm it.
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 and automatic application: Anthropic's help centre article "Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion" (support.claude.com/en/articles/15910845, fetched 2026-09-02; the page contains "Increased weekly limits now run through September 13, 2026" and "5-hour usage limits are not affected by this promotion"). The post-promotion baseline figure comes from Anthropic's @ClaudeDevs post of 2026-08-29 and is not restated in the help centre; this page labels it as such. The official pages and your own /usage reading govern.
Record your /usage figure first
Run it again after the promotion ends 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 weekly limits 2026
How the weekly allowance is measured and what people usually get wrong.
Subscription vs API for a 24/7 agent
Cost and stall behaviour of long-running agents under the two billing models.
The official wording quoted here was fetched on 2026-09-02, and this promotion's end date has already been extended once, so it may move again. Anthropic's help centre page and your own /usage reading in the CLI govern.