An Anthropic subscriber has filed a federal lawsuit against the company, claiming it misled consumers regarding the usage limits of its Claude Max subscription plans. The lawsuit, filed by Karl Kahn, a resident of Washington DC, alleges that the usage caps for the Max 5x and Max 20x plans are unclear and appear to be lower than those advertised on the company’s website.
Anthropic offers three subscription tiers for individuals, with the most affordable option, Claude Pro, priced at $17 per month. The Claude Pro plan promises “at least five times the usage per session compared to our free service” during peak hours. The company began offering the Max 5x and Max 20x plans in April 2025, with monthly fees of $100 and $200, respectively, which are said to provide five and 20 times the usage caps of the Pro package.
The lawsuit asserts that the actual usage limits for the Max 5x and Max 20x plans are significantly below the advertised amounts. Kahn upgraded to the Max 20x plan in April, only to quickly reach his weekly limit. He reported consuming 15 percent of his weekly allowance within just a five-hour session. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of other U.S. consumers who purchased a Max subscription since the plans were introduced last year.
Anthropic has not provided any comments regarding the ongoing lawsuit. Discussions around the company’s rate limits frequently arise on platforms like Reddit, where some users report exceeding their limits rapidly. In July 2025, Anthropic implemented weekly rate limits on Claude Code usage in response to instances where users were running the software continuously.
All large language models, including Claude, operate on a consumption system based on tokens. When users input text into the system, it translates various elements into numerical formats, which relate to the patterns learned during training. The costs associated with generating outputs depend on both input and output processing, which can vary in complexity.
The lawsuit underscores a persistent mismatch between consumer expectations and the actual operational costs associated with AI services. The existing model for software subscriptions may not adequately reflect the computational demands of large language models. Analysts suggest the financial pressures may increase as Anthropic and other AI companies prepare for potential public offerings.
