# Anthropic Max plan Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/anthropic-max-plan/ 15 people recommended Anthropic Max plan in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 51 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 17 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended: critics say it is heavily subsidized and its limits keep changing; those who recommend it cite much more usage per dollar than token billing. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Covert changes to existing subscriptions (3 comments in the sample): "bait-and-switch, covert-tweaks-to-existing-suscriptions-to-increase-token-use, rag-pulling, black-patterns, lock-in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47903167)) "Those new "free" API credits are another nudge towards getting people away from subscriptions imo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50314658)) "Next they’ll slowly reduce how much CC usage you can get out of the $100 Max plan" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47856099)) - Overpriced and misleadingly marketed (3 comments in the sample): "Every person who signs up for a pro subscription on that advertising has cause to sue for being miss-sold the product." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47859965)) "the $200 Anthropic plan is not significantly better than the $200 OpenAI plan, it's just the same Marketing non-sense" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49897903)) "It really opened my eyes to what they expect to charge people.. wayyyy overpriced." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201516)) - Trust eroded by misuse and policy (2 comments in the sample): "Anthropic seems to do next to nothing to stop people from using their tool being used for bad stuff" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50065976)) "All the goodwill earned from taking a stand against the DoD seemingly forgotten in a month." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47855422)) - Unclear or misleading usage limits (2 comments in the sample): "Anthropic apparently being extremely misleading about what the 20x plan really means" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49534803)) "Anthropic 20x plan only refers to 5h interval. Not the weekly quota. Very sketchy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49903731)) ## Why people recommend it - Much more usage for the price (3 comments in the sample): "Anthropic's own Max (5x) plan where you get way, way more tokens to do with as you please" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48241363)) "I seem to get a lot more tokens for my $ with the $200 plan from Anthropic or OpenAI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48555414)) "you can get a LONG way on the $20/month plans from OpenAI and Anthropic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46348769)) - Cheaper than pay-as-you-go token billing (3 comments in the sample): "The token-based plans usually work out to be much more expensive than the monthly ones." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49835247)) "For the Anthropic Max plans, this can be like a ~90% discount." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47083424)) "far less cost effective than a Max plan on Anthropic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47713423)) - Strong value for coding work (3 comments in the sample): "For coding $200 month plan is such a good value from anthropic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47866052)) "Especially when you're taking advantage of the $200 plan" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47738373)) "a lot of developers would rather walk than code manually" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47896294)) - Enough for heavy daily use (1 comment in the sample): "it's enough for daily work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48278404)) ## Other AI subscriptions people recommend - [Google AI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-ai-overviews/): 128 recommend, 52 mixed, 480 criticize - [OpenAI ChatGPT Plus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openai-20-plan/): 9 recommend, 2 mixed, 1 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.anthropic.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Anthropic Max plan", https://hackerapproved.com/p/anthropic-max-plan/ (15 recommend, 5 mixed, 51 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.