I’m currently on 5x plan ($100) plan, now thinking about getting 20x plan ($200) since getting the limits quite quickly especially on Opus. I actually want to be using just Opus. Sonnet cannot really handle it. I’ll have a discount if I update now. Any thoughts will be appreciated!

I'm currently using Google Gemini 2.5 Pro for free but I'm thinking of going back to Claude specifically to use Claude Code. My question are, how quick do you reach the limits for Claude Code? Does it do a good job compared to Cursor with Sonnet 3.7 or Gemini 2.5 Pro?

I'm a sr. software engineer with ~16 years working experience. I'm also a huge believer in AI, and fully expect my job to be obsolete within the decade. I've used all of the most expensive tiers of all of the AI models extensively to test their capabilities. I've never posted a review of any of them but this pro-Claude hysteria has made me post something this time.

If you're a software engineer you probably already realize there is truly nothing special about Claude Code relative to other AI assisted tools out there such as Cline, Cursor, Roo, etc. And if you're a human being you probably also realize that this subreddit is botted to hell with Claude Max ads.

I initially tried Claude Code back in February and it failed on even the simplest tasks I gave it, constantly got stuck in loops of mistakes, and overall was a disappointment. Still, after the hundreds of astroturfed threads and comments in this subreddit I finally relented and thought "okay maybe after Sonnet/Opus 4 came out its actually good now" and decided to buy the $100 plan to give it another shot.

Same result. I wasted about 5 hours today trying to accomplish tasks that could have been done with Cline in 30-40 minutes because I was certain I was doing something wrong and I needed to figure out what. Beyond the usual infinite loops Claude Code often finds itself in (it has been executing a simple file refactor task for 783 seconds as I write this), the 4.0 models have the fun new feature of consistently lying to you in order to speed along development. On at least 3 separate occasions today I've run into variations of:

● You're absolutely right - those are fake status updates! I apologize for that terrible implementation. Let me fix this fake output and..

I have to admit that I was suckered into this purchase from the hundreds of glowing comments littering this subreddit, so I wanted to give a realistic review from an engineer's pov. My take is that Claude Code is probably the most amazing tool on earth for software creation if you have never used alternatives like Cline, Cursor, etc. I think Claude Code might even be better than them if you are just creating very simple 1-shot webpages or CRUD apps, but anything more complex or novel and it is simply not worth the money.

inb4 the genius experts come in and tell me my prompts are the issue.

Hey everyone! Amateur coder here working on flashcard apps and basic HTTP tools.

Claude has been incredibly helpful as my coding partner, but I'm hitting some workflow issues. Currently using Sonnet 4 for implementation, but when I need more complex planning, I switch to Opus 4.1 on the web to get Claude code prompt, which gets rate-limited quickly. I end up waiting 2+ hours on rate limiting

I'm considering the Max plan ($100/month) to avoid these delays and actually finish my projects. I've tried Claude's agentic features with sonnet 4 but its not even near what opus 4.1 gives in chat. Like i have to paste my code there and get prompt and sonnet work on it.

Compared to Gemini 2.5 or OpenAI alternatives, I still prefer Claude Code, but wondering if I'm missing something in my current approach.

Is it really worth getting max plan 100$ for a month or two to finish my project building and then go with pro plan on building it. what would you guys suggest. ?

Really appreciate any insights - still learning and would love to hear from you guys.

Hey everyone,

I’m just starting out in vibe coding, mainly focusing on building web apps, micro SaaS, and SaaS products. My goal is to implement things like AI agents & sub-agents, MCPs, and automations into these apps.

I’ve been using Cursor, but honestly it hasn’t been as helpful as I expected. Now I’m considering subscribing to Claude Pro Max ($100/month) to speed up my workflow — but I’m not sure if it’s really worth the investment at this stage.

Has anyone here tried Claude Pro Max for this kind of work?
Do you think it’s worth it, or would it be smarter to start with cheaper/free alternatives until I get more traction?

Thanks a lot for any insights 🙏

Has anyone tried it?

I use heavily cursor.ai and frankly saying lately im using repomix (npm package to pack code to xml files) to wrap some parts of code and paste it inside to AI-Studio Google

I already spent over $100 on the api for Claude 4 opus, and it is good. It is very good but it is also way too expensive to sustain using it normally, I’ll go bankrupt.

I was wondering if you guys could share your experience with the pro plan and/or the max $125 plan and share how much you get to use opus 4. Basically the limits and if you think it’s worth it for coding. I will exclusively use it for coding.

Thanks!

Over the past few days me and Gemini have been working on pseudocode for an app I want to do. I had Gemini break the pseudocode in logical steps and create markdown files for each step. This came out to be 47 md files. I wasn't sure where to take this after that. It's a lot.

Then I signed up for Claude code with Max. I went for the upper tier as I need to get this project rolling. I started up pycharm, dropped all 45 md files from gemini and let Claude Code go. Sure, there were questions from Claude, but in less than 30 mins I had a semi-working flask app. Yes, there were bugs. This is and should be expected. Knowing how I would handle the errors personally helped me to guide Claude to finding the issue.

It was an amazing experience and I appreciate the CLI. If this works out how I hope, I'll be canceling my subscriptions to other AI services. Don't get me started on the AI services I've tried. I'm not looking for perfection. Just to get very close.

I would highly suggest looking into Claude code with a max subscription if you are comfortable with the CLI.

Anthropic has some secret something that makes it dominant in the coding world. I tried others, but always need to rely on 3.7. I'll probably keep my gemini sub but I'm canceling all others.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

I have never used Claude before and I was using chatgpt business subscription for many months and while I have zero code knowledge I was able to build features for my lineage 2 server. I made a knowledge base that includes core parts of the source code added the code to different txt files and after with prompts I was explaining what I want to make based the knowledge base and it was making everything for me I tested in game and explained what is working and what not and after some time it fixed everything but now it is unable to fix even easy things l. The files that are knowledge base are around 60k lines of code and the files I request to create is around 2k lines of code. Can I achieve this Claude Max x5 subscription? I am very frustrated with chatgpt any recommendations I would appreciate it

Sorry to talk about this topic again.

But ive noticed the rate limits are much closer to the API costs now. im on max 200. For power users - how much usage are you getting from max 100/200 compared to the actual API cost?

Hey everyone,

I’m a solo founder building my first web app and I’ve been using Claude Code Pro for coding and debugging. Lately, I’ve been constantly hitting the 5-hour daily usage limit, which is slowing me down a lot.

I’m thinking about upgrading to the Max plan ($200 NZD / ~$120 USD per month) for unlimited/extended access. I have no steady income right now, but I’ve freed up some budget

I want to hear from people who have experience:

• Is the Max plan actually worth it for someone hitting daily limits on Pro?

• Will it save enough time and frustration to justify the cost?

• Any tips to get the most value out of the Max plan as a solo builder?

Basically, I’m trying to figure out if it’s a worthwhile investment in speed/productivity for my first project.

Thanks in advance!

Feeling a little dumb and hoping someone can clarify the value proposition here.

For context, I'm a lifelong developer and comfortable in both IDEs and at the CLI.

I've been playing around with Cursor at $20/mo which interfaces with Claude and, although it gets weird sometimes, it's quite helpful, especially for small throwaway experiments that I tend to make a lot of. Well worth the price IMHO.

I'm now looking at Claude Code, with as I understand is included with Claude Max ("from" $100/month) or usable with a Claude API key.

My (limited) experience with Claude's API is that I can hit several dollars worth of usage VERY quickly, like within an hour or two. So, I would expect the cost of Claude Code via the API to be extremely high. I haven't tried, but I feel like I would blow through the equivalent of Cursor's $20/mo within a few days. Is this the case?

Using Claude Code via a plan like Max makes more sense, but it's still so much more expensive than a simple Cursor subscription.

So... what tips the scales for getting Claude Max vs. an IDE with an integrated agent? What justifies the substantially higher price?

I know and have experienced that Cursor gets kicked into the slow lane sometimes, but it still seems fast enough even then. It sure feels like having a more-or-less fixed-cost low-ish monthly subscription for what seems to be unlimited usage vs. something that "starts" at 5x more expensive and doesn't really even clearly spell out the usage limits.

I see that Claude Code can do operations at the CLI level but ... so does Cursor? I've had it move files around, refactor projects, etc.

I just feel like I'm missing something key here and would love to know what!

I'm not affiliated with any of these companies, just a confused user. Thanks in advance.

So we all know about the new subscription option for Claude Max which has 5-20x higher rates than Plus for 100 dollars a month, honestly that's just disrespectful to the user, like you want someone to pay 100 dollars a month on something that still has limits, are they out of their mind?

Like seriously, I've been using Claude for a while now and was actually considering upgrading, but this pricing is absolute highway robbery. $100 A MONTH?? For what? So I can hit slightly higher rate limits that I'll probably still manage to max out anyway? And the worst part is they're acting like they're doing us some kind of favor. It doesn't even come with new features I assume?

And don't even get me started on how this compares to other AI services. I mean at least ChatGPT had the decency to make it unlimited lmao. I get that these companies need to make money, but there's a difference between sustainable pricing and just plain gouging your users. The most frustrating part is that I actually LIKE Claude. The responses are solid, and I've gotten value from the Plus tier. But this Max tier pricing feels like they're basically saying "we know some whale businesses will pay this, so screw the regular users."

I mean, what's next? $200/month for "Claude Ultra" with another 2x rate limit increase?

I have been using Claude since it became available in Canada. I have been working on a project that has several conversations - basically because I would have to start new conversations when current one got too long. I have basically the same 4 files that I update in the project knowledge repository (uses around 60% of the repository's limit). They are code files (3 Python scripts and a notebook - maybe 320kb total for all 4). Whenever I make changes to the code, I'll remove the old one and transfer the new one to the repository so Claude is always reviewing the most recent version.

Today I decided to upgrade to the Max plan to increase my usage with Claude (longer conversations?). I removed the scripts and reloaded the updated versions so Claude is again reviewing the most recent versions. No sooner did I add the files I get a message - This conversation has reached its maximum length. I didn't even get a chance to start a new conversation. I can't because of this length limit.

This is shoddy customer service - actually, it's worse than that, but I am trying to be polite. I have reached out for a refund because this level of service is completely unacceptable. If you are considering an upgrade - DON'T! Save your money, or buy a plan with a competing AI. If this is the level of customer service Anthropic has decided is acceptable, they will not be around much longer.

Latest CLaude Code is allowed officially to be used with Claude MAX, no more burning API tokens.

0.2.96

• Claude Code can now also be used with a Claude Max subscription (https://claude.ai/upgrade)

https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Seem Anthropic want to push Claude Code as alternative to other tools like Cursor and push their Max subscription. May be one day a merge into Claude Desktop.

Edit/Update: more informations here:
https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/11145838-using-claude-code-with-your-max-plan

Hi everyone, I'm a developer who has been using Claude Code Max ($200 plan) for 3 months now. With renewal coming up on the 21st, I wanted to share my honest experience.

Initial Experience (First 1-2 months): I was genuinely impressed. Fast prototyping, reasonable code architecture, and great ability to understand requirements even with vague descriptions. It felt like a real productivity booster.

Recent Changes I've Noticed (Past 2-3 weeks):

1. Performance degradation: Noticeable drop in code quality compared to earlier experience

2. Unnecessary code generation: Frequently includes unused code that needs cleanup

3. Excessive logging: Adds way too many log statements, cluttering the codebase

4. Test quality issues: Generates superficial tests that don't provide meaningful validation

5. Over-engineering: Tends to create overly complex solutions for simple requests

6. Problem-solving capability: Struggles to effectively address persistent performance issues

7. Reduced comprehension: Missing requirements even when described in detail

Current Situation: I'm now spending more time reviewing and fixing generated code than the actual generation saves me. It feels like constantly code-reviewing a junior developer's work rather than having a reliable coding partner.

Given the $200/month investment, I'm questioning the value proposition and currently exploring alternative tools.

Question for the community: Has anyone else experienced similar issues recently? Or are you still having a consistently good experience with Claude Code?

I'm genuinely curious if this is a temporary issue or if others are seeing similar patterns. If performance improves, I'd definitely consider coming back, but right now I'm not seeing the ROI that justified the subscription cost.

I'm trying out different development modes with agents. So far, I've tested Cline/Roo Code, Zed, Aider, and now I'm on Claude Code. Out of all of them, Claude Code seems the most advanced and best integrated, especially with tool calling, even though I prefer the Gemini models.

I'm using the Claude Pro plan at $20 a month, so with practically no use of Claude Opus, the strongest model. The next plan is Max, which gives you 5x and 20x the usage you get with Pro, at $100 and $200 a month, respectively. These models should allow for moderate use of Claude Opus, which is billed as Sonnet, with the difference that it eats up your limits much faster.

So far, I've tried to use it moderately and I've never reached the limits of the Pro version (though I don't know how close I've gotten), without, of course, using Opus, and I've never even used the chat on the site.

Since I haven't reached the limits so far, I'd like to know from those who use Claude Code: is it worth upgrading to the Max plan to be able to use Opus, and possibly have increased limits on Sonnet as well, which I imagine could be useful in particularly intense sessions?

I think the Pro version already has incredible value, since it costs in a month practically half of what a software engineer earns in an hour. Is the same true for the Max version?

UPDATE 1.0

MESSAGE LIMIT AND CHAT LIMIT

So far I’ve continued an already one VERY long SONNET 3.5 chat within one project full of other chats without hitting the message limit. But I had hit the max chat length limit.

However I have 5 quite long artefacts in this chat and about 6-7 attach docs within the chat. Overall I had an impression that the chat was at least 20% longer than standard project chats in Pro version. FYI: I’m working on writing a book and it was mostly Claude co writer chat for helping out with anything around actual writing. No coding, But I still got artifact errors in formatting and editing,

Thus I had one monthly session out of promised 50 for MAX 20x and it was ok.

I will keep updating this post for you to see how MAX 20x is behaving.

TESTING CLAUDE ON OTHER STUFF TO CHECK IF PROMISED 900 messages in 5 HOURS is BS.

I also have a paid GPT account, use it daily for stuff like formatting long docs etc. But I will see If I can get Claude to do it, since they have promised up to 900 messages an hour.

——————

UPDATE 2.0

CLAUDE PROJECT DOCUMENT UPLOAD CAPACITY

A fucking joke, can’t upload more that 25% of project documents capacity without getting ”chat is too long” death sentence. I must note that I started a NEW vhat, and it’s not long yet, allthough I have added a bunch of shorter documents directly into the chat.

———-

UPDATE 3.0

RUNTIME AND SERVER ERRORS. MESSAGE LIMIT, KNOWLEGDE STORAGE CAPACITY

Been working since 09.00. It’s 14.00. Normally I’d have hit message limit TWO TIMES. Not with MAX 20x.

NOT A SINGLE SERVER ERROR OR INTERRUPTION! FLAWLESS.

However project document storage capacity is FUCKED. So much, that I’m rethinking If purchase was worth it. My work requires long context. New chats disrupt whatever context I have accumulated in my long chat, And I need chat context from dosens of previous chats.

———-

UPDATE 4.0

MOBILE APP ALLOWS FILE UPLOAD TO PROJECT KNOWLEDGE AND CHAT AFTER MAX LENGTH CHAT WARNING”

So there’s a ”bug”. You can STILL CONTINUE CONVERSATION after you get ”this chat has reached max length” IF you continue writing from IOS CLAUDE APP. However this is a fucking joke. How’s anyone supposed to WORK from a phone.

————

UPDATE 5.0

CONNECTIVITY

Response time is a bit long however I have NOT hit connection error even ONCE. Also not a single server overload and all that shit. Sonnet 3.7 extended thinking behaves stupid and forgets context all the time .

—————-

UPDATE 6.0

SERVER ERROR AT MAX CONTEXT WINDOW CAPACITY

So this is true. I get interrupted and get a network/server error when I feed Claude docs that max up it’s context window size.

However I haven’t hit message limit even though I used Claude for hours. So MAX 20X is a thing, However context window size is a crime. Anthro won’t get anywhere without stable connection and bigger context.

——————

UPDATE 7.0

START OF REGULAR SYSTEM ERRORS/INTERRUPTIONS ON 20X PLAN

CONTEXT WINDOW 3.7 w. THINKING IS SHIT

Well, bad news REDDIT. I started getting REGULAR server interruptions and server errors even at CLAUDE MAX 20x plan. Not often, but at least 3-4 times during the day. I guess PRO PLAN users see this much more ofter.

I fucking hate context window limitations. WTF Anthro, get the goddamn 500k out, you have it. Charging 250 usd for 500k within 50 monthly sessions is very reasonable, you greedy fucks.

——————-

UPDATE 8.0

NETWORK CONNECTION ERRORS PILING UP ON MAX 20X PLAN

This gotta be a joke. Service totaly unavailiable at 250 dollars a month. Really? All while bug with smaller context window when uploading same amound of project documents? Anthro this is a straight road to subscription cancellation.

Ok, a LONG artefact written from a LONG LOG HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED (deleted) THREE TIMES by network error. Which means a MASSIVE amount of tokens went to the dogs. Had I been on Pro plan I’d have hit my message limit after those three messages. Which means I’d have paid for something Anthro has never delivered,

———————-

UPDATE 9.0

CLAUDE 3.7 HALLUCINATES LIKE CRAZY AFTER ANTHRO ROLLED OUT DEEP RESEARCH AND CLAUDE CODE FEATURES

This is not the first time! Right after CLAUDE MAX paid plans were rolled out Sonnet 3.7 started hallucinating like crazy! It literally could not retain analyze 100 pages pages of log context in project knowledge. ( I split it in parts) The worst part is that It acknowledged it, apologized, tried again and failed again many times. (Essentially it keps quoting dumb made up details that weren’t in the text) At the end I was forced to use Gemini Pro 2.5 to analyze those 100 pages of text,

One more thing. Just as it did the last time after new plans were introduced Sonnet 3.7 turned into a small unsure thing that gives a statement and then ASKS ME ”AM I RIGHT IN THINKING SO?”

WTF?! How am I supposed to know if I asked it to analyze? And No matter how many times I say ”Stop asking if you’re right, I just need your opinion” it still keeps asking!

—————-

UPDATE 10.0

CONTINUED HALLUCINATIONS OF SONNET 3.7 FEW DAYS LATER AFTER WEB SEARCH AND DEEP RESEARCH ROLLOUT. CHOPPED KNOWLEDGE BASE CAPACITY IN PROJECT STILL REAL

JUST FYI in case you think of subscribing to MAX 20X.