An expanded class action lawsuit was filed against Anthropic, alleging that the company misled subscribers about the capabilities of its Max subscription plan for Claude. The lawsuit was brought by attorneys Monica Vaca and Kati Daffan, both former Federal Trade Commission employees.
The Max plan offers two pricing tiers at $100 or $200 per month, advertised as providing 5x or 20x the usage limits of the $20 monthly Pro plan. However, according to the complaint, these figures are misleadingly presented. The usage increases are only guaranteed during five-hour sessions subject to weekly limits, which the lawsuit contends results in far less total capacity than the marketing materials suggest. Accessing information about these restrictions requires navigating multiple hyperlinks and separate webpages, the complaint states.
Frustration with the subscription terms has been expressed by users online, with some comparing the limited access to having a larger gas tank with a restricted fuel pump. Customers have reported being surprised after purchasing the higher-tier plans and discovering they cannot use as much capacity as they believed they were buying. Some users upgrade during active projects only to realize after payment that their expectations do not align with actual functionality.
Anthromic introduced the Max plan in April 2025 but did not implement the weekly usage limits until August, according to the lawsuit. The company has faced growing pressure from customers concerned about rising costs at AI companies. In its response to an earlier version of the complaint, Anthropic argued that usage limit details were technically available to consumers through the purchase process, comparable to reading product information on a package label.
Vaca emphasized that consumers lack the ability to audit AI services independently and must rely on marketing claims when making purchase decisions. She noted that some customers feel compelled to pay high subscription fees to remain competitive in their fields, making transparent pricing practices particularly important.
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