Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, 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 15.4 points higher (64.6 vs 49.2) but costs 1.7× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $13327; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.2 | 64.6 | +31.3% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 31.3% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $13,326.78 | $22,191.42 | +66.5% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 66.5% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 305.22s | 258.66s | −15.3% Claude Fable 5.2 (Max… is 15.3% faster |
| 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 (Max, Default Fallback): 31.3% more intelligence, 66.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 15.3% faster end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Fable 5.2 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 62.20 for $11742.
- 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/claude-fable-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1/claude-fable-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill