Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) by Anthropic? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 11.1 points higher (53.4 vs 42.3) but costs 15× as much to run the benchmark ($13129 vs $860; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 42.3, and Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) when 42.3 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback) | Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 53.4 | 42.3 | −20.8% Claude Opus 5.5 (Low,… is 20.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $13,128.86 | $860.33 | −93.4% Claude Opus 5.5 (Low,… is 93.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 201.53s | 13.96s | −93.1% Claude Opus 5.5 (Low,… is 93.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.1 (Max, Default Fallback): 20.8% less intelligence, 93.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 93.1% 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 Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1/claude-opus-5-5-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-1/claude-opus-5-5-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill