Skip to main content

AnthropicLLM matchup

Claude Fable 5.2vs.Claude Sonnet 5.5

Is the higher price worth it?

Claude Fable 5.2 performs better than Claude Sonnet 5.5, but costs 4 times as much.

Fable 5.2 ahead
IntelligenceOverall index, 100 points = average
130.9

Claude Fable 5.2

Rank 1

121.8

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Rank 5

SpeedTokens per second
n/a

Claude Fable 5.2

103

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Sonnet 5.5 cheaper
Price$ per 1M tokens
$16

Claude Fable 5.2

$4

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Choose Claude Fable 5.2 for

KnowledgeGeneralReasoningCodingAgentsMathematicsLegal (not certain)Finance (not certain)

Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 for

No clear advantage

Where is the difference?

Strengths at a glance

Fable 5.2Sonnet 5.5

The median of all ranked models is below 105 in every area, so it sits in the centre of the net.

125145165105CodingFable 5.2ReasoningFable 5.2MathematicsFable 5.2KnowledgeFable 5.2AgentsFable 5.2GeneralFable 5.2FinanceslightlyFable 5.2LegalslightlyFable 5.2
CodingFable 5.2 ahead
Fable 5.2131.6Rank 1
Sonnet 5.5125.2Rank 3
Median of ranked models87.4

95 % range: Fable 5.2 122.0 to 141.1, Sonnet 5.5 119.5 to 130.9.

AreaFable 5.2Sonnet 5.5

The same values and verdicts as the bars below. In the close-up the net starts at 105 points, just below the weaker model's lowest value; the reference group average is 100. Not in the net because a model has no own value there or the data are too thin: Multimodal, Health.

Fable 5.2 is ahead in 6 of 10 areas, Sonnet 5.5 in none.

Fable 5.2 ahead: 6Fable 5.2 slightly ahead: 2too little data: 2

Areas in the overall index
KnowledgeFable 5.2 +23145.5 to 122.5
GeneralFable 5.2 +8132.8 to 124.5
ReasoningFable 5.2 +7124.9 to 118.3
CodingFable 5.2 +6131.6 to 125.2
AgentsFable 5.2 +3124.2 to 120.9
MathematicsFable 5.2 +3135.2 to 132.1
Multimodalonly Sonnet 5.5 has a score
Specialist fields
Legalleaning Fable 5.2not certain · 3 tests each
Financeleaning Fable 5.2not certain · 3 and 5 tests
Healthonly Sonnet 5.5 has a score

Bar length shows the gap in index points (full width 15 points, one standard deviation of the reference group). Solid means clearly ahead, hatched not certain yet, a thin grey bar level.

Show 3 more areas that do not count toward the overall index
Cybersecurityonly Sonnet 5.5 has a score
Productivityonly Sonnet 5.5 has a score
Educationonly Sonnet 5.5 has a score

Bar length shows the gap in index points (full width 15 points, one standard deviation of the reference group). Solid means clearly ahead, hatched not certain yet, a thin grey bar level.

Claude Fable 5.2 vs. Claude Sonnet 5.5 at the same effort

Both models measured at the same reasoning efforts. This shows whether a lead comes from the model or only from more compute.

lowFable 5.2 ahead
30.5 points gap across 11 shared test series
mediumFable 5.2 ahead
26.4 points gap across 11 shared test series
highFable 5.2 ahead
18.7 points gap across 11 shared test series
xhighFable 5.2 ahead
13.3 points gap across 11 shared test series
maxFable 5.2 ahead
11.5 points gap across 11 shared test series
Overall index (max vs. max)Fable 5.2 ahead
Fable 5.2 130.9 vs. Sonnet 5.5 121.8

The gap compares only the Artificial Analysis test series in which both models are measured at that effort. Tied below 3 points, ahead only beyond two standard errors.

Which model for which task?

Everyday tasks, translated from the area values above. Each row names the values it rests on.

Writing and debugging codeFable 5.2Coding 131.6 to 125.2
Maths and data analysisFable 5.2Mathematics 135.2 to 132.1, Reasoning 124.9 to 118.3
Facts and researchFable 5.2Knowledge 145.5 to 122.5
Agents and workflowsFable 5.2Agents 124.2 to 120.9
Security analysisopenCybersecurity without a score for Fable 5.2
Many requests on a small budgetSonnet 5.5$16 to $4 per 1M tokens
Finance, legal and medical textsleaning Fable 5.2Finance 123.5 to 119.4, Legal 120.9 to 114.3, Health without a score for Fable 5.2
Images, screenshots and PDFsopenMultimodal without a score for Fable 5.2

Claude Fable 5.2 vs. Claude Sonnet 5.5 in our own test

The same prompt for both models. We show the latest attempt without fixes; it does not count toward the overall index.

Pelican on a bicycle

Prompt

Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle

Task origin: Simon Willison

Claude Fable 5.2

Not tested yet

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Claude Sonnet 5.5: Pelican on a bicycle
A community classic for free-form SVG drawing.

Oct 1, 2026 · 28 s · $0.04

Test details
Run date
Oct 1, 2026
API provider
openrouter
Requested API model
anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5
Reasoning setting
high
Token limit including reasoning
8,192 tokens
Output tokens
3,886 tokens
Cost of the attempt
$0.0389
Response time
28.2 s
API model reported in response
anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5
Pinned endpoint
Anthropic | anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5-20260928
Temperature
Provider default
Test protocol
community-visual-tests-v1
Technical checks
Passed, not a quality rating

Visually reviewed. This individual test does not establish overall model quality.

SVG short test

There is no shared test round for this selection. Results from different rounds are not mixed.

Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 in the overall index

Every model with a place in the overall index, both models of this matchup highlighted. You can add or hide other models.

Overall index (Gradually Meta-Score v5)

20 of 94 models

4 models in this view are measured at a lower reasoning effort than max in the overall index. Dashed column: lower reasoning effort than the top.

Claude Fable 5.2max130.9
Gemini 4 Carbonhigh127.0
Claude Opus 5.5max125.6
Claude Fable 5.1max124.1
Claude Sonnet 5.5max121.8
Gemini 4 Argonhigh121.4
GPT-6 Astramax120.2
Muse Wonder Fullmax118.1
GPT-6.1 Solmax118.0
Claude Opus 5max117.4
Muse Wondermax113.3
Claude Fable 5max112.8
Kimi K3.1 Promax112.6
Muse Ember 1.0max110.4
GPT-6 Solmax109.1
GPT-5.6 Solmax109.1
Gemini 3.7 Flashhigh107.9
Muse Spark 1.3max107.3
Gemini 3.8 Flashhigh106.8
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017max106.7

All data side by side

The better value is bold. For the overall index only when the gap is clear.

MetricClaude Fable 5.2Claude Sonnet 5.5
Intelligence
Overall indexpoints, 100 = reference group average, higher is better130.9121.8
RankRank 1 of 94Rank 5 of 94
Price per 1M tokens
Inputwhat you send$8$2
Outputwhat the model writes$40$10
Speed
Tokens per secondn/a103
Technical
Context windowhow much text the model reads at once1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages
Knowledge cutoffJune 2026June 2026
ReleasedNov 9, 2026Sep 28, 2026
AvailabilityActiveActive
Open weightsnono
  • Claude Fable 5.2, Batch pricing: $4 input and $20 output per million tokens, separate from standard API pricing. Source
  • Claude Fable 5.2, Fast pricing: $16 input and $80 output per million tokens. Fast is a separate serving mode. Source

Prices without caching or batch discounts · Page count as a rule of thumb from Artificial Analysis

Shared benchmarks

Single results from the same benchmark version, task and metric. A value is bold only with the same test setup and a clear gap.

A: Claude Fable 5.2B: Claude Sonnet 5.5

AA-BriefcaseOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 1,785.3 eloClaude Sonnet 5.5: 1,816.5 eloArtificial AnalysisAs of 11/10/2026
AA-OmniscienceOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 66.8 pointsClaude Sonnet 5.5: 30.5 pointsArtificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
AA-Omniscience AccuracyOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 79.1%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 51.5%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateOverall · lower is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 59.3%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 43.3%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
AutomationBench-AAOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 76.4%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 71.8%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
CritPt v2 (Hard Subset)Overall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 76.5%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 59.0%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
FrontierCodeOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 48.8%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 41.7%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
FrontierCode 1.1 MainOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 56.2%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 45.8%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
GDP.pdfOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 24.2%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 25.8%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
GDPval-AAOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 1,831.3 eloClaude Sonnet 5.5: 1,837.8 eloArtificial AnalysisAs of 11/10/2026
Show 3 more benchmarks
HLE-DiamondOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 80.2%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 53.3%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
Terminal-BenchOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 59.6%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 63.6%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026
Terminal-Bench-ScienceOverall · higher is betterClaude Fable 5.2: 73.3%Claude Sonnet 5.5: 53.3%Artificial AnalysisAs of 11/09/2026

More comparisons

Compare Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 with the models people compare them with most often.

Compare another matchup

The most popular comparisons

  1. 1Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.8 Flash
  2. 2Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
  3. 3Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5.5
  4. 4Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GLM-5.3
  5. 5Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Haiku 5.5
  6. 6Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 5
  7. 7Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Terra
  8. 8Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Fable 5.1
  9. 9Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Grok 4.7
Show all 51 comparisons
  1. 10Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
  2. 11Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
  3. 12Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Luna
  4. 13Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Kimi K3
  5. 14Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Qwen 3.8 27B
  6. 15Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.6
  7. 16Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4-Pro
  8. 17Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Luna
  9. 18Claude Fable 5.2 vs. Kimi K3
  10. 19Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GLM-5.2
  11. 20Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4-Flash
  12. 21Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Sol
  13. 22Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite
  14. 23Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Fable 5
  15. 24Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Qwen 3.8 Max 0902
  16. 25Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.6 Flash
  17. 26Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 4.6
  18. 27Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Sol
  19. 28Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GLM-5.3-Flash
  20. 29Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Muse Spark 1.3
  21. 30Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.7
  22. 31Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Astra
  23. 32Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.8
  24. 33Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Kimi K2.6
  25. 34Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Grok 4.6
  26. 35Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-6.1 Sol
  27. 36Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 4.5
  28. 37Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.7 Flash
  29. 38Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Haiku 4.5
  30. 39Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Mistral Medium 3.5
  31. 40Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Mistral Large 4
  32. 41Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-5.4
  33. 42Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.5 Flash
  34. 43Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-5.5
  35. 44Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.5
  36. 45Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Kimi K3.1 Pro
  37. 46Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. GPT-6.1 Terra
  38. 47Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Muse Wonder Full
  39. 48Claude Fable 5.2 vs. Claude Opus 5.5
  40. 49Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 4 Argon
  41. 50Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs. Gemini 4 Carbon
  42. 51Claude Fable 5.2 vs. Claude Haiku 5.5