Would you subscribe when you can use it for free?

As an early adopter of large language model like ChatGPT, I spent most of my time having pure conversations with it, explore effective prompts, write about new features and getting the most out of it to share with my readers.

We’ve been having a quite competition on who’s large language is the most powerful, at first it was the only one — ChatGPT.

As time past, the first to stand against ChatGPT was Google bard, then failed. Then with Microsoft with the integration of ChatGPT to their products, Bing ai was born and was quite confidential at first.

Today, I think Anthropic is the biggest rival of OpenAI. As soon as Anthropic release Claude, both are constantly switching place as the most powerful large language model.

Since Claude 3.5 is free, I won’t be switching my subscription for now, as I am waiting for GPT5 will put an end to this competition.

There’s not much to say for now.

But the latest model family released by Anthropic is quite powerful and I have tried to spend some spare money just to explore it for a month.

Today, I’m excited to share my insights on how to get the most out of your Claude 3.5 Pro subscription, along with some key details about its usage limits that every power user should know.

Understanding Limits

First things first, let’s talk numbers. Claude 3.5 Pro offers at least 5 times the usage compared to the free service, which is good for those of us who rely on AI assistance for complex tasks. But what does this mean in practical terms?

In my experience, if you’re having relatively brief exchanges — think around 200 English sentences of 15–20 words each — you can expect to send about 45 messages every 5 hours.

That’s a significant upgrade from the free version, allowing for more in-depth and prolonged interactions.

However, it’s crucial to understand that these limits are not just based on the number of messages, but also on the total length of your conversation and any attachments you include.

Here’s a few tip for you.

Tip 1: Start Fresh, Stay Focused

I’ve found that starting a new conversation for each distinct topic or task is not just organizationally satisfying — it’s a strategic move to optimize your Claude Pro usage. Here’s why:

1. Claude re-reads the entire conversation with each new message. By starting fresh, you’re essentially giving Claude a clean slate, which means faster response times and more efficient use of your message limit.
2. It helps you stay focused. I’ve had much more productive sessions when I maintain a clear topic boundary for each conversation.

One fascinating aspect of Claude Pro’s usage system is how it handles longer conversations and large attachments.

For instance, if you upload a hefty document like “The Great Gatsby,” you might find your message limit for that conversation reduced to about 15 messages within the 5-hour window.

Tip #2: Batch Your Queries

When working with long documents or complex topics, I’ve learned to bundle related questions into a single message.

This approach is far more efficient than sending a rapid-fire series of individual questions.

Not only does it conserve your message limit, but it also often results in more comprehensive and coherent responses from Claude.

A rookie mistake I made early on was repeatedly uploading the same file in a conversation. Don’t do this! Claude retains context throughout your interaction.

Tip #3: Upload Once, Reference Often

Once you’ve uploaded a file, you can refer back to it multiple times without re-uploading.

This saves your usage limit and keeps the conversation flowing smoothly. I’ve found this particularly useful when analyzing long reports or datasets over an extended session.

You might wonder why these limits exist at all. As Anthropic explains, running a model as sophisticated as Claude requires significant computational power.

These limits ensure that Claude remains accessible to many users for free while allowing power users like us to integrate it into our daily workflows more extensively.

Get the most out of Claude 3.5 Pro

To truly get the most out of Claude Pro, I’ve developed a workflow that looks something like this:

1. Plan my queries in advance, grouping related questions together.
2. Start new conversations for distinctly different topics or tasks.
3. Upload necessary documents at the beginning of a conversation and reference them as needed.
4. For complex topics, I draft longer, more comprehensive messages rather than numerous short ones.

It’s worth noting that your message limit resets every 5 hours.

I’ve found it helpful to time my most intensive work sessions around these reset periods, especially when working on large projects that require sustained AI assistance.

As I continue to explore the capabilities of Claude Pro, I’m consistently impressed by its versatility and depth. The usage limits, while initially seeming restrictive, have actually encouraged me to be more thoughtful and strategic in my interactions — a practice that has improved the quality of my work overall.

By understanding and working within its usage framework, you can unlock its full potential and perhaps, like me, discover new ways of approaching complex tasks and ideas.

For the next coming days, I will be sharing some effective prompts you can use in Claude 3.5.

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