Claude Code users hitting usage limits 'way faster than expected'

Anthropic says it is looking to resolve an issue which is blocking users of its AI coding tool.

Claude Code, the AI-powered helper for writing computer code, has become popular in recent months.

The company announced on Reddit it was investigating an issue where usage limits were being hit faster than expected.

Customers buy tokens to use AI services - but the amount of tokens needed for each task is sometimes opaque.

Anthropic said fixing this was the "top priority" for the team.

Claude users commented under the post on Reddit, with one user saying they hit the token limit "much later" on their free account compared to their $100 (£75) a month paid account.

Another user, talking about bugs that can form in the code created, commented "One session in a loop can drain your daily budget in minutes".

And another comment stated that the impact wasn't just on Claude Code, saying "A simple one sentence reply to a conversation just took me from 59% usage to 100%. How??"

Just last week, Anthropic introduced peak-hour throttling of its services on Claude, meaning that tokens will get consumed more quickly when demand for the service is higher.

Software developers can use Claude Code and other similar applications as part of their daily workflow to help with specific tasks. Any issues with the service can disrupt their work.

A Claude Pro subscription costs users $20 a month. Increasing tiers for higher usage can cost $100 or even $200 per month. The company also offers business pricing for larger organisations.

Anthropic recently accidentally released part of its internal source code for Claude Code due to "human error".

An internal file with 500,000 lines of code was released on GitHub, a popular platform for developers.

An Anthropic spokesperson said the release was caused by "human error, not a security breach," and that "no sensitive customer data or credentials were exposed or involved".

Claude Code's source code was already partially known, as it had previously been reverse-engineered by independent developers. An earlier version of the source code had also been leaked in February 2025.

Anthropic is currently in a legal battle with the US government over how its tools can be used by the Department of Defense.

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