Anthropic Boosts Claude Quotas to Attract Users

Doubling Quotas for Claude

Anthropic has announced that from March 13 to March 27, 2026, the usage quotas for its assistant Claude will be doubled during off-peak hours. This measure automatically applies to Free, Pro, Max, and Team subscriptions, requiring no action from users.

Peak hours are defined as between 8 AM and 2 PM in New York, which corresponds to 1 PM to 7 PM in Paris. Outside of this time frame, Anthropic's server capacities are less strained, allowing for this doubling of quotas. According to the official help center page for Claude, this offer aims to take advantage of off-peak hours when capacities remain partially inactive.

How Quotas Work

Claude's quota system operates on a rolling five-hour window, with a limited usage volume. In July 2025, Anthropic introduced an additional weekly cap to regulate intensive usage, particularly through Claude Code. With this promotion, the quota for the five-hour window is doubled, but only during the defined off-peak hours.

A crucial point is that bonus quotas consumed during off-peak hours do not count against the usual weekly cap. This means that users benefit from genuinely additional capacity, with no impact on the standard limits of their subscribed plan. After March 27, quotas will revert to their usual levels, with no changes to billing or the possibility of rolling over unused credits.

Scope of the Promotion

The doubling of quotas is effective across all of Claude's interfaces, including the web app, desktop, mobile, Cowork for Mac, Claude Code for developers, as well as integrations for Excel and PowerPoint. Only Enterprise subscribers are excluded from this offer, as their contractual terms are incompatible with a uniform promotion of this type.

Whether one is a developer using Claude Code to generate code or a user on the Free plan, the offer activates without any manipulation in the account settings. The new limits are directly visible in the Claude interface as long as usage occurs outside the 1 PM to 7 PM (Paris) window.

Growth Context

This promotion comes amid significant growth for Claude. In February 2026, the White House ordered federal agencies to cease all use of the assistant after Anthropic refused to authorize its models for autonomous weapons. This decision led to a dramatic increase in the number of users, rising from 4 million in January to 11.3 million by early March, marking a 183% increase in two months.

Claude has also reached the top spot in the App Store in 16 countries, including France. By temporarily doubling the quotas of its various subscriptions, Anthropic is providing this new wave of users with a concrete glimpse of what higher-tier subscriptions offer, hoping to convert free users into paying subscribers who might have otherwise remained on the free plan without this incentive.