My guideline is putt when you can, if not then chip, if not then pitch. Essentially get the ball on the ground as soon as it is reasonable. Actually a putt or chip has more margin for error than a pitch.
I am not a great putter from off the green outside of 3 feet. There is no max distance per-se, it really is a matter of the surface height, grain direction, and the slope of the actual putting surface. Down hill putts from off the green is probably my biggest weakness, so I rarely will use the putter if is more than 1 or 2 feet off of the putting surface.