Claude Max vs Ultra: OP only if the five-hour window is the stop

Verdict, October 31, 2026. OP for a verified Claude Code user on Max who empties the rolling five-hour window while weekly allowance remains. Ultra, at $200, is the plan that drops that window. Mid if you are already on the $200 plan and the weekly cap is the stop. Anthropic says those weekly limits are unchanged, and the API credit does not refill Claude Code. Mid as a swap to Codex on ChatGPT Pro 200, Cursor Ultra, or Copilot Max. Pro 200 already has no five-hour Work and Codex limit, and it publishes no task count next to Claude's 10x. Cursor's $200 includes Cursor models, not Claude or GPT. No letter moves on the October 15 AI Coding Agents board. S stays locked. OP or Mid has not run these plans.

Pages below were read October 31, 2026. Figures are published web prices. OP or Mid did not subscribe to these plans for this piece.

October 30

UPDATE At 5:29 PM UTC on October 30, 2026, Claude's account renamed the plans. Max 5x is now Max, still $100 a month. Max 20x is now Ultra, still $200. Subscribers do nothing. Existing Max 20x accounts move to Ultra automatically, with no price change. Sources: post (opens in a new tab), Ultra plan (opens in a new tab), pricing (opens in a new tab).

BUFF The same post removes the five-hour limit for verified Ultra accounts, starting that day for most existing subscribers. Newer accounts keep a temporary limit until verified. The post says that temporary limit helps prevent fraud and abuse, and that you get an email when it comes off. Weekly limits stay. The help page says verification is automatic, from account and payment history. A phone check at checkout does not remove the limit. In Settings, then Usage, no Current session bar means verified. Sources: post (opens in a new tab), Ultra plan (opens in a new tab).

What the rows buy

PRICE Max is $100 a month, monthly only: 5x Pro every five hours and every week, Fable for up to half the weekly limit, $100 in API credits, and priority access. Ultra is $200 a month, monthly only: no five-hour limit for verified accounts, 10x Pro per week, Fable for up to half that weekly limit, and $200 in API credits. Pro, the unit in those multiples, is $20 a month, or $17 a month on the annual plan ($200 up front). Sources: pricing (opens in a new tab), Ultra plan (opens in a new tab).

The old name was Max 20x. The published weekly cell says 10x, and the post says weekly limits are unchanged, so this piece does not call the rename a cut. Ultra's week is twice Max's week at twice the price. The second $100 is the session cap, a Fable half of a larger week, and a larger API credit. There is no message count. Model, chat length, and file size decide the burn. Sources: pricing (opens in a new tab), usage limits (opens in a new tab).

NERF Except on verified Ultra, the window starts at the first message and resets in full five hours later. Web, desktop, mobile, and Claude Code share it, and Fable has its own weekly limit. Anthropic may add other caps and does not guarantee uninterrupted service. If Claude Code is mid-response at a session limit, it may finish that step inside the weekly cap. That wrap-up can repeat on Max. It does not apply on verified Ultra, and a temporary Ultra limit works like Max until it is gone. The page says the wrap-up is still rolling out. Sources: usage limits (opens in a new tab), Claude Code on the plan (opens in a new tab).

The credit is not Claude Code

NERF Those API credits cover the Claude API, playground, Managed Agents, and the Agent SDK. They do not cover interactive Claude Code or extra usage in Claude, Claude Code, or Cowork, and they do not change plan limits. They expire each cycle. Claim after seven days. Only one Console organization can be linked. claude -p and the Agent SDK use the credit only with an API key from that organization. Signed in on the plan, they use the subscription. The help page dates that split to October 7, 2026. Usage credits are a different switch: standard API rates after a limit. Sources: monthly API credits (opens in a new tab), platform docs (opens in a new tab), Claude Code on the plan (opens in a new tab), Agent SDK (opens in a new tab).

Pro 200 is the same sticker, not the same meter

PRICE ChatGPT Pro 100 is $100, Pro 200 is $200, and Pro 500 is $500, all monthly. Pro 200 includes more usage than Pro 100. Only Pro 500 includes Ultrafast. Pro 100, Pro 200, and Pro 500 currently have no five-hour limit in Work and Codex. They still have an included allowance, shared by Work and Codex. OpenAI does not publish a message or task count. Sources: Pro tiers (opens in a new tab), Work and Codex usage (opens in a new tab).

UPDATE On October 29, 2026, Pro 100 and Pro 500 moved to twice their previous Work and Codex allowance. A Pro 200 cut from a September 29 email was canceled: the higher allowance stays, and the lower one doubled up to match, starting that day. Plus did not change. OpenAI says this does not guarantee twice as many finished tasks. Business Premium is in the same note. Ultra's new line is a limit Pro already dropped, at the same $100 and $200 prices, and Pro publishes no 5x or 10x next to Claude's week. There is no arithmetic winner. OP or Mid did not run the same task on both. Sources: release notes (opens in a new tab), Pro tiers (opens in a new tab).

NERF Ultrafast for GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol is Pro 500 only. It spends included Work and Codex allowance at 8x the Standard rate, then credits at 6x. Credits bought on Pro 100 or Pro 200 do not turn it on. Eligible Pro API credits match the sticker, $100, $200, or $500 a month, after seven days, prorated the first time, with no rollover. They do not raise signed-in Codex usage, and they do not cover Codex through an API key. Sources: Pro tiers (opens in a new tab), API credits benefit (opens in a new tab).

Cursor and Copilot sell a different pool

PRICE New Cursor plans are The X Subscription. Super is $100 a month at 15x Plus. Ultra is $200 a month at 50x Plus, so the $200 plan is not double the $100 plan on Cursor's own table. The pool is Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok 4.5, and Composer 2.5, shared with Grok, refreshing weekly. Claude, GPT, and Gemini bill at API list price from prepaid credit, from the first request, on Premium and above. Legacy Cursor Ultra is still $200 a month and still has a monthly Other Models pool for third-party models at API price. The page does not publish that pool's dollar size. Switching to The X Subscription is optional and permanent, and it drops included third-party usage. Sources: pricing (opens in a new tab), models and pricing (opens in a new tab), legacy plans (opens in a new tab).

VENDOR CLAIM Cursor says each paid X Subscription plan includes at least twice as much Cursor-model usage as the legacy plan it replaces. Source: legacy plans (opens in a new tab).

PRICE Copilot Max is $100 a month: 10,000 base credits plus 10,000 flex, 20,000 total. One credit is $0.01, so the current meter is $200 of model cost before overage. Base matches the subscription price and stays put. Flex is the half GitHub says can adapt. Credits reset at 00:00:00 UTC on the first of the month and do not roll over. Chat, Copilot CLI, the cloud agent, and third-party coding agents draw them. Paid-plan code completions do not. Through November 30, 2026, paid plans get 30% off model costs on Copilot Fusion. Sources: plans (opens in a new tab), individual billing (opens in a new tab).

The board stays on October 15

The October 15 AI Coding Agents list keeps Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor in A. A plan rename is not a model test. S stays locked.

What to do today

On Ultra, open Settings, then Usage. No Current session bar means the five-hour limit is off.
Already on the $200 plan, and the week runs out first: October 30 did not add weekly usage.
On Max, and the week runs out first: Ultra is 10x Pro against 5x, at twice the price. Same weekly rate, plus the session cap.
Do not book the Claude API credit as Claude Code time. claude -p uses it only with a Console API key.
Pro 200 already has no five-hour Work and Codex limit. Ultrafast is Pro 500. Its API credit does not raise signed-in Codex.
Cursor's $200 X Subscription Ultra does not include Claude or GPT. Legacy Ultra still has Other Models. The switch is one way.
Copilot Max is the $100 credit plan. The flex 10,000 can change.

The weekly patch is on beehiiv: subscribe free (opens in a new tab).

The OP or Mid Team

Sources

Checked October 31, 2026.