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Claude Opus 5.5: price, free access and real cost per task
Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5 on September 22, 2026. It is cheaper than Opus 5 and, on Anthropic's own table, beats Fable 5.1 on coding. Here is what it costs to actually use.
Key facts
| API model ID | claude-opus-5-5 |
|---|---|
| Released | September 22, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens (300K on the Batch API, beta) |
| Input | Text and images (no video) |
| Available on | Claude API, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Claude apps (paid plans) and Claude Code |
Source: Anthropic: Opus 5.5 model page
Claude Opus 5.5 API pricing
USD per 1M tokens, from Anthropic's model page and launch post.
| Price per 1M tokens | Opus 5.5 | Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $4.00 | $5.00 |
| Output | $20.00 | $25.00 |
| Cache write (5 min) | $5.00 | $6.25 |
| Cache hit | $0.20 | $0.50 |
Source: Anthropic: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5
Is Claude Opus 5.5 free?
- No. On Claude's plan page, the free plan includes Sonnet and Haiku only. Opus starts on Pro.
- On the API there is no free tier for Opus 5.5; you pay per token from the first request.
- The Batch API halves the price for jobs that can wait.
Source: Claude plans and pricing
Using Opus 5.5 in Claude Code
- Opus 5.5 is available in Claude Code on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, and with an API key billed per token.
- Switch models inside a session with the /model command.
- A reasonable split: Sonnet 5.5 ($2.00 / $10.00) for routine edits, Opus 5.5 for large refactors and bugs Sonnet can't close.
What one coding task costs on Opus 5.5
Same assumptions as our calculator, list prices, per agent task:
| Codebase size | Opus 5.5 | Sonnet 5.5 | Fable 5.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (< 10k lines) | $0.223 | $0.115 | $0.549 |
| Medium (10k-100k lines) | $0.498 | $0.258 | $1.222 |
| Large / monorepo (> 100k lines) | $1.188 | $0.618 | $2.910 |
At 173 tasks a month (medium codebase) that is about $86 a month on Opus 5.5, versus $45 on Sonnet 5.5.
Compare every model in the cost calculator Opus 5.5 vs Sonnet 5.5: which one to use
Benchmarks (Anthropic's numbers)
From Anthropic's launch post. Opus 5.5 at max effort (Terminal-Bench at xhigh).
| Benchmark | Opus 5.5 | Fable 5.1 | Opus 5 | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | 66.4% | 55.8% | 52.3% | 57.9% |
| FrontierCode 1.1 | 54.4% | 50.3% | 48.0% | 53.3% |
| CursorBench 4.0 | 57.8% | 51.8% | 46.6% | — |
| AutomationBench | 40.0% | 31.4% | 26.9% | 41.4% |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 67.7% | 65.6% | 63.6% | 57.2% |
| OSWorld 2.1 | 81.8% | 80.7% | 74.0% | — |
For comparison, Anthropic reports Sonnet 5.5 at 70.6% on Terminal-Bench 4.0.
Source: Anthropic: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5
FAQ
How much does Claude Opus 5.5 cost?
$4.00 per 1M input tokens and $20.00 per 1M output tokens on the API, with cache hits at $0.20. Opus 5 was $5.00 / $25.00. Anthropic says it costs about 40% less to run than Opus 5 on typical workloads.
Is Claude Opus 5.5 free?
No. The free Claude plan includes Sonnet and Haiku, not Opus. You need Pro or above, or an API key.
Can Opus 5.5 read or make videos?
No. Anthropic lists text and images as input and text as output. It cannot take video input or generate video.
Is there a Claude Fable 5.5?
No. The newest Fable model is Fable 5.1 ($10.00 / $50.00 per 1M tokens). Anthropic says Opus 5.5 performs at Fable 5.1's level on most work at a lower price.
Is Claude Haiku 5.5 out?
Not yet. Anthropic said on 2026-09-22 that Haiku 5.5 will follow "in the coming weeks". There is no price or model ID yet.
Independent page. Not affiliated with Anthropic. Benchmark figures are Anthropic's; we have not run our own tests.