Claude Code users say they’re hitting usage limits faster than normal

Claude Code users are reporting hitting usage limits dramatically faster than expected, with some saying a single prompt consumes 10% of their session limit versus the usual 0.5–1%. Anthropic has acknowledged the issue on Reddit and X, calling it a top priority but not yet identifying the root cause. A community member claims to have reverse-engineered the Claude Code binary and found two cache bugs that silently inflate costs by 10–20x. The problem follows recent policy changes including reduced quotas during peak hours. Anthropic currently does not publish exact usage limits for its plans, adding to user frustration. Some users are considering switching to competing tools like OpenAI Codex.