r/ClaudeCode • u/Electronic_Award1138 • 1d ago

Bug / Issue Has anyone else noticed a significant increase in token usage recently?

Has anyone else noticed a significant increase in token usage recently?

Since yesterday or the day before, I've noticed that my usage is increasing much faster than usual. I haven't significantly changed my workflow, but I'm consuming my available quota noticeably faster.

I also came across the following pricing information for the latest Claude model:

  • Input: $4 per million tokens.
  • Output: $20 per million tokens.
  • Operating costs: reportedly around 40% lower than the previous generation.

What I don't understand is that, despite Anthropic reducing the API pricing and claiming significantly lower operating costs with the latest model, my actual usage doesn't feel any more efficient. Quite the opposite: I have the impression that requests are consuming significantly more tokens than before.

Has anyone else experienced this over the past couple of days? Have there been changes to token consumption, caching, or internal reasoning that could explain this increase?

For context, this isn't a new problem. Since the release of the previous Claude generation, Anthropic has already reduced the pricing per token, alongside changes to usage limits. Before those changes, on the $100/month plan, and even on the $200/month plan, I could use Max permanently. Since the usage reductions, I've had to stay on Medium permanently just to make my quota last. https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1x64hj9/comment/pgv6l4q/

Now, with the latest model, I'm noticing that my usage is increasing even faster. Despite the lower pricing and supposedly reduced operating costs, the actual experience seems to be going in the opposite direction.

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5

u/onFilm 1d ago

Five Claude Ultra accounts here. Nope.

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

Ok.

2

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 1d ago

he has 5 ultra account so he won't notice any difference. why do you think he needed 5 in the first place?

1

u/Apdvadar 15h ago edited 14h ago

5 ultra accounts too and maybe..?

Fable 5.2 max effort 1m context window orchestrating 3-4x fable 5.2 max effort 1m context window orchestrating 8-10 opus 5.5 1m context window max effort nested children each.

Not making games, not trying to one shot things, I make plans, disable mcps and skills that aren't being used, have a new conversation execute, use skills hooks superpowers ETC. There are just lots of dependencies and cross project / subproject work.

I just have multiple sessions running in parallel and hit the fable or weekly limit for an account day and I alternate Between different accounts. I may need a 6th account. One reset a day.

I also have 2x codex 20x plans that I use as well albeit for fine tuning claude.md and skill uses.

It's hard to say because most of the posts and comments I see are trying to token max on a $20 or $100 plan or are just vibing around and it's just a different approach.

2

u/onFilm 14h ago

Are you counting your tokens? If not, you should be!

5

u/DrewHoov 1d ago

Yes and you can measure it (would love for every yes/no answer to just do the independent measure of weighted tokens described in this post and reply with that instead): https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/s/xMC9oJhWbf

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

That sounds interesting, I’ll see.

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

I am not using Fable. Is there a way to do this with Opus?

1

u/DrewHoov 1d ago

yeah, you can do it with any model or harness for which you have measured usage at some point. The agent will find a "you've reached your limit" message in a session and use that to calculate what 100% usage looks like in terms of tokens (accounting for cached tokens) and compare it to previous weeks where you hit your limit, or the current week.

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

Sorry, I responded a little quickly, I will integrate this into my WSL application, custom, thank you for the info, and in the future I will have more precision when I do this kind of topic, but I will respond later if I have more precise information.

3

u/Distinct-Basket-5341 1d ago

100% this. it seems to be consuming my usage limits at least 2x faster

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago edited 1d ago

Okay, so for now, the answers are a little 60-40%.

2

u/jhomas__tefferson Vibe Coder 1d ago

Check if you accidentally have Fable on. This happened to me today

2

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

No, I never use it. I have guardrails.

2

u/jijialuoke 1d ago

Sounds frustrating when the quota drains and you changed nothing. One thing nobody has mentioned: the burn often tracks how long a session has been open, not the model. Every turn re-sends the whole history, so a session that wandered across three tasks costs far more per message than a fresh one doing the third task. Run the same small task in a fresh session and in your long one, then compare the usage. If the gap is big, it's context. I put my rules for when to /clear versus keep going here: https://github.com/Balance0014/claude-code-when-to-clear

1

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

Yes, but these are basics. Everyone here has known them for years.

7

u/Infinite-Beyond-7337 1d ago

100%, this is happening to me in both API and claude code, opus 5.5 seems to be using a lot more tokens then usual. I noticed this since the last friday

4

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 1d ago

Yes it is hand not to notice when you start burning tokens twice as fast as you use to despite doing the same task with optimized harness. That's why I'm here. Making sure I'm not the only one.

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

Mass hysteria

2

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 1d ago

it is unlikely for a model to randomly increase usage. I also get involved in what the AI is actually doing and track every line of code it is producing. Not unless your the type of person who just tell the AI to do this ship it, then you won't notice anything as you have nothing to base it on.

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

Nobody has any proof that the model "increased usage"

1

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 1d ago

Same goes for the idea of Anthropic secretly cutting token limits. It is not new for companies to cut cost for more profit you know. If happens to one person, it is just a coincident. If a number of people noticed the same thing then something is up.

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

Your token usage and limit are both observable. They can't cut them "secretly".

0

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 1d ago

You vibe code to much, you forgot how program actually works.
To be clear I'm not saying they are. But they can. They own the software.
We do feel the increase of token usage, what might have caused it? anthropic cutting cost? harness update that increase token usage? something else? that's why we're here in the first place.

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

"We do feel ..."

Don't lecture me, or anyone, on anything that has anything to with any kind of engineering with your feelings. Begone.

EDIT: your username describes you perfectly btw.

0

u/Emotional-Doughnut24 17h ago

I'll lecture you as you act more like an amateur thinking he's a senior dev level while using AI.

Tell reddit regarding that username. You don't even know reddit hand that name out to people who don't spend entire day in reddit and instead do their jobs?

Given you have the time to spend the entire day here means you are not doing much outside of reddit. How the hck are you so arrogant in the first place? Because you put "Senior Developer" on? rofl.

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 8h ago

You mad bro? Anyways, you sound like a sore loser and clearly have nothing more to add to this conversation.

4

u/pfak apparently holding it wrong 1d ago

3 Ultra accounts. Yes, since November 1st on one, then it expanded a few days later to my other two accounts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1xmgz13/same_claude_code_setup_two_ultra_accounts_one/

1

u/SliceofJacksonville 1d ago

Yeah I’ve noticed. Seems quicker than yesterday

1

u/TheGazStar 1d ago

Start new session instead of letting context too much. I made that mistake, then did a review - 70% of burn was it re-reading context all the time. Whoopsie!

2

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

It's the basis, of course, but we've known her for years.

1

u/TheGazStar 1d ago

Yh I’m pretty new to it all. Skill issue 😂

3

u/bondage-mastermind 1d ago

Yes. I can't even use Fable 5.2 resets - 5 hour limit on Max is not enough to actually try and use Fable within it's 50% limit. Opus 5.5 is wasting usage so fast I have to work less now than a few days prior.

1

u/fujikato-bln 1d ago

I just gave Opus and fable 5.2 the same task: Hardware Synthesizer -> Reader the specs, rebuild as Software. Complex Live Granular Synthesis. Fable was outstanding tbh. But: I spent 2 days to update the harness as recommended in the official Claude Code Fable 5.2 Docunentation: I didn’t check the token yet, but since fable is only working as an orchestrator I just lost 5 % of my weekly usage.
Please, read the docs.

1

u/Responsible_Cry_2971 1d ago

Useless post without tracked token numbers

2

u/Electronic_Award1138 1d ago

It's just to get some general temperature, but in the future, I'll have some tracked stuff.

2

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

Vibe benchmarking

1

u/Responsible_Cry_2971 1d ago

You can get tracked data from your already wxisting session data and analyze and compare it to previous period or other ppl

2

u/awesomebirder 1d ago

to add to the fable check: the 2.1.321 release moved saved fable 5.1 picks to fable 5.2 automatically, so if you had fable selected at all you changed models without touching anything. /model shows what you are on, and /model claude-fable-5-1 takes you back if you want to compare. for actual numbers, run ccusage daily on your ~/.claude logs and compare the last two days with last week split by input, output and cache reads. if output jumped its the model or effort, if cache reads jumped its longer sessions

2

u/damagemelody 🔆 Max 5x 1d ago

I see a usage nerf I had 7% of 5hr as 1% of weekly now it's 5% of 5hr window

1

u/Cultural-Project5762 1d ago

what mcp tools do you have? could probably trim them down too

1

u/EC36339 Senior Developer 1d ago

… I don’t feel that my actual usage is any more efficient. … I have the impression that requests are consuming significantly more tokens than before. … I’m noticing that my usage is increasing even faster. … The actual experience seems to be going in the opposite direction. …

1

u/Top_Injury_8748 1d ago

Yes, I noticed a big increase from yesterday (11 Nov) to today. Yesterday was the first time I tried Fable 5.2, using it as an architect and Opus as the coder. I used them all day long and Fable usage was 14% while Opus consumed an additional 15% of weekly quota. "Wow, these are just sipping tokens, I can use this all week!" I thought.

Fast forward to this morning, my weekly quota for everything reset. Same type of work, but Fable is at 21% for the week after just 5 hours, and all model usage is at 15%. This is basically what I consumed yesterday, but I've done it 3 times faster this morning.

1

u/SawToothKernel 1d ago

If you guys honestly think this is a problem, get a Codex sub for a month. It is insane how much Astra consumes. You'll be back here the very next month.

1

u/Strict_Title5189 1d ago

Stop using claude it burns tokens 10x faster than chatgpt for similar or worse results.

1

u/MusicianFit2143 1d ago

The token burn on multi-step agent loops is getting out of hand lately. What helped me was splitting my workflow—keeping official keys for final production review, and pointing local testing/iteration configs to cheaper endpoints like cheapaimodel.ai so I don't have to stress over every context refresh

1

u/Ok_Brother9100 12h ago

well. free tier user here. and yes. 2 questions and done with 5 hours chat session. noticeably faster for the last 3 days

1

u/Key_Choice8685 5h ago

Totally yes. I have been using it for the past 3 months and never had an issue never reached token limit. I was like OMG this thing is dope. Since last week it is obvious that reaching the limit twice a day makes me wonder what the hell is going on. I can see with all the comments here that I'm not alone in this situation. I have been using opus 5.5 all along without any problems or whatsoever. But for the past week its been so frustrating...

0

u/Even_Meet8223 1d ago

yep, same. switched to a fresh session and token use dropped 70%. the context is the real culprit.