Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Claude Opus 5.5 (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 5.5 points higher (64.6 vs 59.1) but costs 2.5× as much to run the benchmark ($22191 vs $8910; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback) | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 64.6 | 59.1 | −8.5% Claude Opus 5.5 (Max,… is 8.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22,191.42 | $8,909.67 | −59.9% Claude Opus 5.5 (Max,… is 59.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 258.66s | 665.17s | +157.2% Claude Opus 5.5 (Max,… is 157.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $8.00 / $40.0 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.2 (Max, Default Fallback): 8.5% less intelligence, 59.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 157.2% slower 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 Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Fable 5.2 (High, Default Fallback) scores 61.80 for $7106.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/claude-opus-5-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5-2/claude-opus-5-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill