Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, 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 14.6 points higher (64.6 vs 50.0) but costs 2.2× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $10097; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallba….
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 50.0 | 64.6 | +29.2% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 29.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $10,096.62 | $22,191.42 | +119.8% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 2.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 110.69s | 258.66s | +133.7% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 133.7% 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 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 29.2% more intelligence, 119.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 133.7% slower end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Fable 5.2 (High, Default Fallback) scores 61.80 for $7106.
- 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-xhigh/claude-fable-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1-xhigh/claude-fable-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill