4 habits to stop Claude from hitting usage caps

Many people switching from ChatGPT or Gemini are surprised by how quickly they burn through their Claude quotas, especially when using the Opus 4.6 model. The reason is that with every new message, Claude processes the entire previous conversation, which increases token usage and makes long chats expensive. For extended discussions, it’s helpful to request a summary and use it to start a fresh chat.

Claude Projects allow attached documents to be cached, meaning they only cost tokens the first time they’re uploaded. This saves a significant amount of usage and makes Projects especially valuable when working with large texts or summaries.

Choosing the right model is also essential: Opus is powerful but extremely token‑hungry, while Sonnet and Haiku are far more efficient for routine tasks. A good strategy is to use Opus only for planning or final review.

Editor’s note: These are only some of the tips from the article. If you plan to use Claude seriously, it’s absolutely worth reading the full piece. I’ve reached the same conclusions in my own work with Claude, and I can guarantee you’ll benefit from them.

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