> After this point-when sufficient capacity allows us to do so—we aim to restore Fable 5 as a standard part of subscription plans. We intend to do this as quickly as we can.
From today:
> After July 7, 2026, Claude Fable 5 is no longer included in your plan’s weekly usage limits. You can keep using Claude Fable 5 through usage credits, which let you pay for usage beyond what your plan includes.
I'm disappointed with this. Historically, Claude's API cost a significant multiple of their subscription pricing, and after the promotional period it appears the access to Fable will be API only, if I understand this.
There actually is a limit to what people will pay for model usage, and I suppose this squeeze is one way to find out what that limit is. I've been content paying $200 per month for a solid plan that I actually don't quite use up every month, but this new vector really rubs me the wrong way.
The worst part of this is are they even training the next generation anymore? Why do it when the government has decided that US LLMs are at the peak of what they will allow consumer access to.
I bet my house that after the promotional stuff ends they will change their mind and let you keep using Fable on subscription. Otherwise this is the end of their marketshare. These guys are complete idiots. I give them that
Since this will not be able to be used for coding or code auditing, what use is it? Not being glib, not a rhetorical question. I'm trying to stretch my creativity, and I can't see what it's for.
So is this a part of the "first hit is free" campaign? If it won't be available on subscription past July 7, what is the point of using it for 7 days now? Shouldn't our energy be better spent elsewhere?
Apparently they hired some payday loans marketing folks recently?
As much as I like(d) Anthropic and their approach to being a lab / PBC, if you hire that many people that fast for that much money, it’s inevitable that you end up with some of the same grifters that destroyed the internet. Seems hard to stop them somehow from also destroying their next company.
This makes sense to me. Consider these assumptions:
1) During peak times, they're already struggling to meet demand. They've figured out that 50% should be achievable without causing too much pain for existing users, and by setting a limit, more users will use it for architecture and then switch back to Opus 4.8 for implementation.
2) They need data on how people are using it at scale to figure out when it should fire up Opus or Haiku agents. They need to be careful not to have a model that kills your usage cap halfway through the week, and they need time to bake in balance.
I think people are reading too much into them not reiterating that they want to offer it in Max subscriptions in the future too. Of course they do, they want to compete!
I think they're trying to avoid setting up expectations right now because of all this backlash, so they didn't restate something that might make people mad. I don't even think they miscalculated - I think we're being hyper-nitpicky.
I would expect that by late July, they'll figure out the balance, and either offer a higher tier Max subscription (40x for $300, perhaps), or have Fable drop to Opus for implementation consistently, and then start offering Fable again in the Max subscriptions. They need to do something to make sure a Fable user doesn't just hit their head on the ceiling all the time.
Don't assume the current subscription tiers are subsidized. We don't know, and it's entirely possible that even the $200 a month plan is not. Remember that Anthropic makes improvements to their models to use fewer tokens all the time, and we don't know how much they pass that on to us. "Usage" is not one-to-one with tokens, either.
Anthropic switches you back to Opus whenever you code!
But what I find truly offensive is that there's no mention of that anywhere in the page linked above. That page makes the "grand gesture" of supposedly giving away free Fable ... when no such thing is happening (again, at least, not for coders).
Since Anthropic has eroded all the trust it could possibly have, I'm going to allow myself to be cynical and say that this move is just another pillar of their shady marketing practices.
I know a few real persons who will praise Fable solely because it's scarce and unavailable to them. Heck, they've already been doing that in the past month, as if Fable allowed them to do unimaginable things.
And once this play has done its job, Anthropic is going to come as a savior and put it back into subscription, driving even more hysteria and visibility.
There's probably a name for this tactic in some marketing playbook which I'm unaware of.
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[ 1214 ms ] story [ 2005 ms ] thread> After this point-when sufficient capacity allows us to do so—we aim to restore Fable 5 as a standard part of subscription plans. We intend to do this as quickly as we can.
From today:
> After July 7, 2026, Claude Fable 5 is no longer included in your plan’s weekly usage limits. You can keep using Claude Fable 5 through usage credits, which let you pay for usage beyond what your plan includes.
There actually is a limit to what people will pay for model usage, and I suppose this squeeze is one way to find out what that limit is. I've been content paying $200 per month for a solid plan that I actually don't quite use up every month, but this new vector really rubs me the wrong way.
I don't think I've ever seen a company so determined to shit their own pants. It's astonishing, really.
As much as I like(d) Anthropic and their approach to being a lab / PBC, if you hire that many people that fast for that much money, it’s inevitable that you end up with some of the same grifters that destroyed the internet. Seems hard to stop them somehow from also destroying their next company.
1) During peak times, they're already struggling to meet demand. They've figured out that 50% should be achievable without causing too much pain for existing users, and by setting a limit, more users will use it for architecture and then switch back to Opus 4.8 for implementation.
2) They need data on how people are using it at scale to figure out when it should fire up Opus or Haiku agents. They need to be careful not to have a model that kills your usage cap halfway through the week, and they need time to bake in balance.
I think people are reading too much into them not reiterating that they want to offer it in Max subscriptions in the future too. Of course they do, they want to compete!
I think they're trying to avoid setting up expectations right now because of all this backlash, so they didn't restate something that might make people mad. I don't even think they miscalculated - I think we're being hyper-nitpicky.
I would expect that by late July, they'll figure out the balance, and either offer a higher tier Max subscription (40x for $300, perhaps), or have Fable drop to Opus for implementation consistently, and then start offering Fable again in the Max subscriptions. They need to do something to make sure a Fable user doesn't just hit their head on the ceiling all the time.
I think it might even be suitable for full time work, if the $200 plan gives four times the usage.
Particularly if they also remove the halving in the future.
I am not holding my breath for them adding an even more subsidized subscription tier.
Anthropic switches you back to Opus whenever you code!
But what I find truly offensive is that there's no mention of that anywhere in the page linked above. That page makes the "grand gesture" of supposedly giving away free Fable ... when no such thing is happening (again, at least, not for coders).
I know a few real persons who will praise Fable solely because it's scarce and unavailable to them. Heck, they've already been doing that in the past month, as if Fable allowed them to do unimaginable things.
And once this play has done its job, Anthropic is going to come as a savior and put it back into subscription, driving even more hysteria and visibility.
There's probably a name for this tactic in some marketing playbook which I'm unaware of.