# Claude models compared: Haiku, Sonnet, Opus and Fable

Checked 2026-10-18 against Anthropic's model and pricing pages. Rule of thumb: use the smallest model that does the job well.

| Model | Released | Price per M tokens (in / out) | Context | Speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Oct 7, 2026 | $0.1 / $0.5 | 1M tokens | Fastest | High-volume work: classification, extraction, routing and subagents. From $0.10 / $0.50; prompts over 100K tokens cost more. |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Sep 28, 2026 | $2 / $10 | 1M tokens | Fast | The best mix of speed and intelligence for everyday tasks, documents and bug fixes. |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Sep 22, 2026 | $4 / $20 | 1M tokens | Moderate | Long-running agentic coding and knowledge work. Anthropic's recommended starting model. |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Sep 1, 2026 | $10 / $50 | 1M tokens | Slower | The hardest reasoning and long-horizon agent work, when Opus 5.5 isn't enough. |
| Claude Mythos 5.1 (restricted) | Sep 1, 2026 | $10 / $50 | 1M tokens | Slower | Fable-class capability for verified cybersecurity and life sciences organizations. |

Haiku 5.5 pricing is tiered; prompts over 100K tokens cost more.

## Which model for which job

| Job | Haiku | Sonnet | Opus | Fable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorting, tagging and pulling data out of documents | best | works | no | no |
| Customer support replies and routing | best | best | no | no |
| Writing emails, posts and first drafts | works | best | works | no |
| Summarizing long reports and meetings | works | best | works | no |
| Spreadsheets, analysis and financial models | no | works | best | works |
| Everyday coding and bug fixes | no | best | best | no |
| Long-running agents and multi-step projects | no | works | best | best |
| Strategy, research and the hardest problems | no | no | best | best |

## Questions

### Which Claude model should I use?

Start with Claude Opus 5.5, which Anthropic recommends as the default for most work. Use Sonnet 5.5 for faster everyday tasks at lower cost, Haiku 5.5 for high-volume jobs like sorting and extraction, and Fable 5.1 only for the hardest reasoning.

### What is the difference between Haiku, Sonnet and Opus?

They trade speed and price against depth. Haiku 5.5 is the fastest and cheapest, Sonnet 5.5 balances speed and intelligence, and Opus 5.5 handles long-running agentic and knowledge work. All three have a 1M-token context window.

### How much do Claude models cost?

API list prices per million input and output tokens are $0.10 and $0.50 for Haiku 5.5 (prompts up to 100K tokens), $2 and $10 for Sonnet 5.5, $4 and $20 for Opus 5.5, and $10 and $50 for Fable 5.1. Claude plans charge a flat seat instead.

### What is Claude Fable?

Claude Fable 5.1, released September 1, 2026, is Anthropic's most capable generally available model, aimed at demanding reasoning and long-horizon agent work when Opus 5.5 isn't enough. It is slower and costs more than Opus.

### What is Claude Mythos?

Claude Mythos 5.1 is the same underlying model as Fable 5.1, offered only to verified cybersecurity and life sciences organizations through Anthropic's verification programs. It is not available on regular Claude plans.

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