Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) vs GPT-5.5 (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) scores 11.2 points higher (49.6 vs 38.4) but costs 2.1× as much to run the benchmark ($11161 vs $5294; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.5 (Xhigh).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) | GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 38.4 | −22.6% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 22.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $11,160.86 | $5,294.36 | −52.6% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 52.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 85.62s | 55.87s | −34.7% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 34.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $5.00 / $30.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) vs Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback): 22.6% less intelligence, 52.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 34.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
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.
- GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback)GPT-5.5 (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/gpt-5-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/gpt-5-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill