Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)
By Anthropic · released 2026-09-28 (3 weeks) · snapshot 2026-10-24
- Intelligence index
- 56.00
- Cost to run the AA index
- $7260
- Price per 1M tokens (in / out)
- $2.00 / $10.0
- End-to-end time
- 360.5s
Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) on the Pareto frontier, and what beats it?
Off the frontier
No. Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is at least as smart for the same money or less.
Next step up: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback), smarter but dearer.
| # | Model | Creator | Intelligence | Total cost | E2E total | Open | Released | Frontier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Anthropic | 56.00 | $7260 | 360.5s | 2026-09-28 | ||
| 2 | Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | Anthropic | 56.00 | $4057 | 123.1s | 2026-09-22 | Frontier | |
| 3 | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Anthropic | 57.60 | $8708 | 626.1s | 2026-09-22 | Frontier |
Open in the picker Daily check URL: 200 on the frontier, 409 once beaten
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) today
Intelligence: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. Cost: total cost to run that benchmark, so reasoning tokens count. API id: claude-sonnet-5-5.
Compare head to head
Suggested: what beats it, its effort levels, and frontier models near its price.
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Medium, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (High, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
Compare Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) with measured models
What the Claude Sonnet 5.5 release did to the frontier on 2026-09-28
1 of 5 effort levels reached the frontier at launch (Claude Sonnet 5.5 (High, Default Fallback)). Impact 0.09, #40 of 46 releases this past year.
Should you use Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)?
Should you use Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)?
Only when it fits your setup: Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is at least as smart for the same money or less, so Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the value frontier today.
What is better and cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)?
Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) — at least as smart for the same money or less.
How much does Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) cost?
$2.00/$10 in/out per 1M tokens, and $7260 to run the full Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, the honest all-in number for reasoning models.
Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) on the Pareto frontier?
No: Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) beats it on intelligence, cost, or both.
Frontier membership by axis pair
Other axis pairs where Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is Pareto-optimal.
| Y axis | X axis | On the frontier |
|---|---|---|
| AA intelligence index | AA total cost to run (USD) | |
| AA intelligence index | End-to-end total seconds | |
| AA intelligence index | Output speed tokens/sec |
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/models/claude-sonnet-5-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/models/claude-sonnet-5-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill