Anthropic Doubles Claude Usage Limits in Off-Peak Promotion

Anthropic, the developer of the AI chatbot Claude, announced a limited-time promotion on Friday that doubles usage limits for most users during off-peak hours, running through March 27, 2026. The move comes amid a surge in popularity for Claude, driven by the company's firm stance against altering its AI safety features for military applications.

The promotion, which began on March 13, applies automatically to users on Free, Pro, Max, and Team plans, excluding Enterprise accounts. It boosts the number of messages users can send within Claude's standard five-hour rolling window, effectively allowing twice as many interactions outside peak weekday times. Peak hours are defined as 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Time, or 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific Time. On weekends, the doubled limits are available around the clock. This enhanced access extends across Claude's web interface, desktop and mobile apps, as well as integrated tools like Cowork, Claude Code, Claude for Excel, and Claude for PowerPoint. Importantly, the extra usage does not count toward any weekly plan limits, and no user action is required to activate it.

Anthropic described the initiative as "a small thank you to everyone using...