When Claude suddenly stops responding or you cannot log in, the first place to check is Anthropic's official status page, status.claude.com. Within a minute you can tell whether the problem is an Anthropic-side outage or something in your own account or environment. This guide explains how to read the status page and how to subscribe to outage alerts.
🟢 Model references match the current lineup · model notice · Fable subscription
Fable 5 and 5.1 subscription (updated September 7, 2026): Claude Fable 5.1, released September 1, 2026, is the current Fable model and Fable 5 is now legacy. Plan terms are the same for both — Max and Team Premium plans include Fable at up to 50% of the weekly usage limit; Pro and Team Standard use usage credits (
Where is the official status page?
The official address is status.claude.com. The older address, status.anthropic.com, opens the same page. It is run by Anthropic and shows per-service status, active and resolved incidents, and a 90-day uptime chart. You can also see a live summary of the same data on our service status page.
Check by component, not just "Claude"
The page breaks services into components. As of September 2026 the list includes the following (the lineup may change):
- claude.ai — the Claude chat on web and mobile apps
- Claude Console (platform.claude.com) — the developer console
- Claude API (api.anthropic.com) — API requests
- Claude Code — the terminal/IDE coding tool
- Claude Cowork — the desktop app for knowledge work
- Claude for Government — the government offering
The key habit is to look at the component you actually use. If web chat works but Claude Code does not, check the Claude Code row rather than claude.ai. Incident history shows that partial, component-level outages are common.
What the status levels mean
- Operational — working normally
- Degraded Performance — slow or intermittently failing
- Partial Outage — some features or users affected
- Major Outage — the service is broadly unavailable
- Maintenance — planned maintenance in progress
Reading an incident timeline
When something breaks, an incident entry appears and is typically updated in this order:
- Investigating — the issue is acknowledged and being diagnosed
- Identified — the cause is found and a fix is underway
- Monitoring — a fix is applied and being watched
- Resolved — the incident is over
During an active incident there is little you can do besides wait for the resolution notice. Timestamps are in UTC, so convert to your local time zone when reading them.
Getting outage alerts
Use the Subscribe option on the status page to receive notifications when incidents are created, updated, or resolved. Subscription channels visible on the page include RSS/Atom feeds, webhooks, and Microsoft Teams channel notifications. If you run a team or an API-based product on Claude, subscribing to the feed is a convenient early-warning signal.
"Server busy", "overloaded", "taking longer than usual" — what each message means
Most people look up outages because of one line on the screen. Here are the common messages, what they usually mean and what to do first. Exact wording varies by app version and language.
| Message | What it usually means | Do this first |
|---|---|---|
| Server busy / overloaded / 529 overloaded | Anthropic's servers are temporarily unable to take every request. Not your account or device. | Check the status page for an incident → retry in a few minutes. If it keeps happening, see the 529 error guide. |
| Taking longer than usual, retrying shortly | Response generation is delayed and the app is retrying automatically (common under load — inferred). | Keep the tab open and wait → if nothing after a minute or two, refresh and resend in the same conversation. |
| Conversation not found | The conversation list or link is out of sync with the server (expired sign-in, a different account, a deleted chat — inferred). | Refresh → sign out and back in → confirm you are on the same account. During an incident it shows on the status page. |
| Something went wrong | A generic error with several possible causes. | Work through the cause-by-cause fixes. |
| Previous response still processing | You sent a new message before the last request finished. | Wait a few seconds and resend. If it persists, see this error's guide. |
| Capacity messages | Demand is high and some plans or models are being limited. | Try another model (for example Opus → Sonnet) or retry later. Meanings in the error message explainer. |
Do outages get compensated?
No official compensation policy for outages on individual plans (Free, Pro, Max) could be confirmed (no official source, as of September 27, 2026). For billing or subscription problems, contacting support through the steps in the subscription and refund guide is the practical route. Five-hour usage limits reset based on session start time regardless of outages (usage limits guide).
Status is all green but Claude still fails for you
If every component shows Operational and Claude still does not work, the issue is most likely on your side — network, browser, extensions, or account. See our Claude not working troubleshooting guide for symptom-by-symptom steps, and the error message explainer for what specific messages mean.
Source: Anthropic's official status page (status.claude.com). Component names and layout may change over time.
Related articles
- Claude Not Working? Fix Login, Access & Errors (2026)
- Claude File Upload FAQ: Formats, 500MB/20-file Limits, PDF Handling
- Troubleshooting Claude Error Messages: Limits, Capacity, Login
- Fix "Your Previous Message Wasn't Sent" in Claude — Causes & Steps (2026)
- Claude Opus 4.7: The Complete Guide to New Features and Specs