Anthropic, the San Francisco‑based artificial‑intelligence firm behind Claude, is confronting a newly filed class‑action lawsuit that accuses the company of deceptive marketing for its premium subscription plans. The suit, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Sunday, alleges that the company’s Max 5x and Max 20x tiers promise usage limits that are dramatically higher than what users actually experience.
Karl Khan, a developer who upgraded to the Max 20x plan in April 2026, says he quickly discovered that a single five‑hour coding session consumed nearly 20 percent of his weekly data allotment. He compared the Max 20x tier, advertised at $200 a month and billed as offering twenty times the usage of the Pro package, with the reality of a cap that amounts to only six to eight times the Pro limit. The Max 5x tier, priced at $100 a month and marketed as five times the Pro usage, allegedly delivers just three‑and‑a‑half times the Pro allowance.
Claude’s Pro subscription, which costs between $17 and $20 per month, serves as the baseline for the advertised multipliers. The complaint argues that Anthropic’s website fails to explain how usage is calculated, describing it as a “black box.” While the company’s blog offers general advice on managing usage and notes that all plans are subject to per‑session and weekly caps, it does not disclose the exact number of prompts or tokens each tier permits.
According to the filing, customers who hit their limits on the premium plans receive prompts to purchase additional credits to continue using Claude. Anthropic’s own blog post acknowledges that it reserves the right to impose “weekly and monthly caps or model and feature usage” at its discretion. Plaintiffs contend that this lack of transparency amounts to a bait‑and‑switch scheme, a claim echoed by numerous Reddit users who have posted similar frustrations.
The lawsuit seeks class‑action status for anyone who purchased the Max 5x or Max 20x plans after April 2025. It states that the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million, exclusive of costs, though the exact damages sought have not been disclosed. Anthropic has not responded to requests for comment.
The case arrives amid growing scrutiny of AI subscription pricing and the opacity of usage metrics for commercial customers. Regulators and lawmakers have recently focused on the broader industry, questioning whether companies provide adequate disclosure about how AI services are billed and limited. Anthropic, which is preparing for an initial public offering, joins competitors such as OpenAI in navigating heightened regulatory attention.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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