Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, Default Fallback)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) by Anthropic or Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, 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 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) scores 0.7 points higher (49.6 vs 48.9) but costs 2.8× as much to run the benchmark ($11161 vs $3983; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, Default Fallb….
| Metric | Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) | Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, Default Fallback) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 48.9 | −1.4% Claude Fable 5.1 (Med… is 1.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $11,160.86 | $3,983.28 | −64.3% Claude Fable 5.1 (Med… is 64.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 85.47s | 16.07s | −81.2% Claude Fable 5.1 (Med… is 81.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, Default Fallback) vs Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback): 1.4% less intelligence, 64.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 81.2% faster end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- Claude Fable 5.1 (Medium, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/claude-fable-5-1-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/claude-fable-5-1-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill