Peak Hours and Usage Limits
Everything you need to know about AI rate limits, and how tokenkarma helps you navigate them.
What are peak hours?
AI providers reduce your usage limits during high-traffic periods to balance load across all users.
For Claude (web), peak hours run from 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM PT (2:00 PM to 8:00 PM in France, Central European Summer Time). Peak hours apply on weekdays only.
During peak hours, your rolling quota may fill faster and take longer to recover.
Latest from Anthropic
New · May 2026As of May 6, 2026, Anthropic made the following changes:
- Claude Code rate limits (5h rolling) are now doubled for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.
- Peak hour limit reductions no longer apply to Claude Code on Pro and Max plans.
This means Claude Code users on Pro or Max plans are no longer affected by peak hours. Peak hours still apply to Claude.ai web usage.
How tokenkarma helps
tokenkarma tracks your quota in real time and alerts you before you hit a limit, peak hours or not.
During peak hours, a badge appears next to Claude in your menu bar so you always know when you are in a reduced-limit window.
The AI Costs Strategist also takes your current usage and reset times into account when recommending a workflow.
Provider reference
| Provider | Peak hours | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Claude (web) | 5 to 11 AM PT / 2 to 8 PM FR | All plans |
| Claude Code | None (removed May 2026) | Pro and Max |
| ChatGPT | Rolling 3h window | All plans |
| Grok | Rolling 3h window | All plans |
| Cursor | Single limit | All plans |
| Perplexity | Single limit | All plans |
Source: Anthropic official support page. tokenkarma is not affiliated with Anthropic or any AI provider.