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!

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.

With sonnet-4 and cc getting better each day (pasting new images and logs is 🔥), I realized I have spent 150 USD in the last 15 days.

If you are near these rates, don't doubt to pay 100 USD/month to get the max subscription, that include CC.

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.

I dont see many people talk about it.

I recently got the max plan (just to test things out). Omfg this thing feels like a true Agent system and am totally changing the way I approach coding and just doing any digital things.

I gave it a narly project to do a BI workflow/data analytics project that I had been working on. It read through my spec, understood the data schema, ran more things by itself to understand more of the data, and outputted a python code that satisfied my spec. What took me a long ass time to do (ie copy pasting data to a webui, asking ai to understand the data and write the sql i want), now it just does it all by itself.

I hooked up Notion MCP and gave a DB of projects I want it to work on (i've written some high level specs), and it automatically went thru all of it and punched it out and updated the project status.

Its unreal. I feel like this is a true agentic program that can really run on its own and do things well.

How come no ones is talking about!??

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!

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've been using Claude since 3.5 through the API and Cursor and switched to Claude Code with the $200 max plan once they released it.

It was great and completely worth it, but now I'm not sure if it's still worth it and the main reasons are the following:

• Claude is very good at agentic tooling but it's not as smart as GPT Codex for example. I find Codex to be very smart and many times it can fix issues that Claude can't but it's not optimal for daily use because it's very slow.

• Now we have more models that work very similarly to Claude like GLM and MiniMax M2 so I tried the coding plan for GLM and it works very well. It's not as good as Claude to be honest but combining it with other models like Codex, Kimi2, etc. can make it very good.

• There's no flagship model anymore. Opus is mostly useless because of how expensive it is and actually it's not even smarter than Codex.

So probably GLM coding plan + Codex + Kimi2 thinking and soon Gemini 3 is a better combo and will also be much cheaper?

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?

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?

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

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.

Looking for help with this decision. On pro ($20/mo) plan, I hit the limits pretty easily. On ($100) Max, I never have. Weekly usage I maybe get to 50%.

Should I switch to usage-based? Do I need to be on the pro plan to use the api key?

Edit: thanks for all the replies. Seems pretty obvious that keeping a subscription (pro or max) is the way to go. ccusage was also helpful (I'm way past $500 for the month!).

I use Claude for business (I own a few) and so far it’s helped streamline a lot of the work that would take me much longer, and cost much less than hiring outside consultants. That being said, anyone have experience with the max X 20? That seems excessive, but on the other hand it can still save you quite a bit of money as opposed to the thousands firms can charge. I just wonder if the Pro is similar. Any insight would be appreciated

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?

Hi!

Never used Claude Code before, but since I am spending so much on Cursor now, the Claude plan actually looks appealing. How is the quality of code? Context window? Etc etc. I am not vibe coding but I do use agents intensively by reiterating and asking questions to validate certain approaches etc.

I ran `ccusage` for the first time today and was pretty shocked to see that I've used over 1 billion tokens this month at a cost of over $2,200! Thankfully, I'm using the $200/month plan.

For context, I am building an MCP Server and corresponding MCP SDK and Agent SDK. I spend many hours planning and spec-writing in Claude Code before even one line of code is written.

Edit: The ccusage package I used can be found here: https://github.com/ryoppippi/ccusage

UPDATE: I AM IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING OUT THE CLAUDE CODE WORKFLOW BLOG POST AND VIDEO THAT I PROMISED. MY FULL-TIME JOB HAS BEEN EATING UP ALL OF MY TIME BUT I WILL GET THIS PRODUCED THIS WEEK!

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

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 🙏

I absolutely love Claude Code and have been a Max subscriber for a while. Regardless, the buzz around the new weekly limit and release made me curious whether Claude's $200/month Max subscription was actually a good deal compared to paying for API usage, so I built a network instrumentation tool to capture and analyze my actual Claude Code usage.

Methodology:

- Captured network logs during 1% of my weekly rate limit (I'm still early in my weekly reset so didn't want to spend too much)

- I'm using Sonnet only for this instrumentation as I don't see the difference between Sonnet 4.5 and Opus 4.1

- Analyzed token usage and calculated costs using official pricing

- Projected monthly costs at full usage

The Results, for 1% of weekly limit:

- 299 total API requests

- 176 Sonnet requests (164K tokens + 13.2M cache reads)

- 123 Haiku requests (50K tokens - mostly internal operations)

- Total cost: $8.43

This is around $840/week with Sonnet, which I believe isn't even half the previous limit.

Monthly projection (full usage):

- Claude API: $3,650/month

- OpenAI API (GPT-5 + mini): $1,715/month

Key Findings

1. Claude Max is 18.3x cheaper than paying for Claude API directly

2. GPT-5 is 2.1x cheaper than Claude API at the token level

TL;DR: Is this still a good deal? If Claude is still the best model for coding, I would say yes. But compared to ChatGPT Pro subscription, the weekly limit hits hard. Will I keep my Claude subscription for now? Yes. Will that change soon if Anthropic still isn't transparent and doesn't improve their pricing? Of course.

Interesting Notes

- Haiku is used internally by Claude Code for things like title generation and topic detection - not user-facing responses

- Cache reads are HUGE (13.2M tokens for Sonnet) and significantly impact costs

If you are curious about the analysis, I open-sourced the entire analysis here https://github.com/AgiFlow/claude-instrument

--- Edited: Published a separated post on how I use Claude Code. This is part of the reason why I like Sonnet 4.5 which is amazing when it come to instruction following.