Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, 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 10.7 points higher (64.6 vs 53.9) but costs 7.8× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $2862; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 53.9, and Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, Default Fallback) when 53.9 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 53.9 | −16.6% Claude Fable 5.2 (Low… is 16.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $2,861.78 | −87.1% Claude Fable 5.2 (Low… is 87.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 22.57s | −91.3% Claude Fable 5.2 (Low… is 91.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $8.00 / $40.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 16.6% less intelligence, 87.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 91.3% faster end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Claude Fable 5.2 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 54.60 for $1124.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/claude-fable-5-2-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/claude-fable-5-2-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill