Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-10.
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 25.9 points higher (64.6 vs 38.7) but costs 5.7× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $3886; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 38.7, and Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback) when 38.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback) | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 38.7 | 64.6 | +66.9% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 66.9% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,885.94 | $22,191.42 | +471.1% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 5.7× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 12.80s | 258.66s | +1920.8% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 1920.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $8.00 / $40.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback): 66.9% more intelligence, 471.1% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1920.8% slower end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.1 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Fable 5.2 (Medium, Default Fallback) scores 56.40 for $3360.
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1-low/claude-fable-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1-low/claude-fable-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill