Claude Fable 5.1 vs Claude Opus 5.5

$2.98 / task
Wins 0 of 9 benchmarks
$1.34 / task
Wins 5 of 9 benchmarks
Terminal-Bench 4.0 Terminal-Bench 4.0 · source setting 2: Agents use a terminal to complete executable coding, system administration and research tasks in the 4.0 suite
Fable 5.144.9
Opus 5.552.5
FrontierCode 1.1 FrontierCode 1.1: Agents implement changes in real repositories, graded against maintainer-defined requirements
Fable 5.1 · max49
Opus 5.557.1
WebDev Arena WebDev Arena: Human pairwise preferences in the stated webdev vote pool
Fable 5.1 · max1,743
Opus 5.5 · max1,807
SciCode SciCode: Writing code for real scientific computing problems (physics, biology, math)
Fable 5.156.4
Opus 5.559.3
Terminal-Bench Science 0.1 Terminal-Bench Science 0.1: Agents complete expert-authored research workflows across five scientific domains in a terminal
Fable 5.1 · max43.3
Opus 5.543.3
MirrorCode MirrorCode: Agents reimplement software projects by observing their behavior
Fable 5.1 · high73.3
Opus 5.5 · max77.4
DeepSWE 1.1 DeepSWE 1.1: Agents change repository code to resolve software engineering tasks under the stated DeepSWE edition
Fable 5.1—
Opus 5.5 · max72.3
SWE-bench Pro (v2 full) SWE-bench Pro (v2 full): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate
Fable 5.1 · high99.1
Opus 5.5—
SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard) SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate
Fable 5.1 · high92.2
Opus 5.5—

Specs

SpecFable 5.1Opus 5.5
Input, per 1M$10$4
Output, per 1M$50$20
Cost per task?$2.98$1.34
Speed, tok/s5681
Context1M1M
WeightsClosedClosed
ReleasedSep 2026Sep 2026
See images✓✓
Read PDFsPartial✓
Hear audio——
Watch video——
Call tools✓✓
Force a tool callPartial—
Return strict JSON✓✓
Search the web?✓
Run code?✓
Use a computer?✓

What breaks when you switch

Fable 5.1 → Opus 5.5
No forced tool use›

Forced tool_choice any or tool returns HTTP 400; remove the forced choice.

Thinking is always on›

Disabled thinking or a manual budget returns HTTP 400; omit thinking or use adaptive thinking.

Remove sampling parameters›

Non-default temperature, top_p or top_k returns HTTP 400; omit these parameters and use prompting.

No assistant prefill›

Assistant prefill returns HTTP 400; use structured outputs or system instructions, with system instructions on Bedrock.

Old computer tool rejected · Claude API / Google Cloud›

The computer_20251124 tool returns HTTP 400 on the Claude API and Google Cloud; use computer_toolset_20260801 there.

Return thinking blocks unmodified›

Edited, reordered or partially dropped thinking blocks return HTTP 400; echo assistant messages complete and unmodified with tool results.

Opus 5.5 → Fable 5.1
Replace forced tool_choice›

Forced tool_choice returns HTTP 400; use auto with an explicit instruction and strict tools, or JSON outputs.

Adaptive thinking is always on›

Disabled thinking or manual budget_tokens returns HTTP 400; omit thinking or use adaptive thinking.

No non-default sampling values›

Non-default temperature, top_p or top_k returns HTTP 400; omit non-default sampling values.

Requires 30-day data retention · Claude API›

A Claude API organization or workspace without 30-day retention receives HTTP 400; configure workspace retention or contact the Anthropic account team.

Thinking blocks bind to conversations›

Where conversation binding is enforced, replaying an invalidated block returns HTTP 400; use the documented drop_block control to continue without it.

No assistant prefill›

Assistant prefill returns HTTP 400; use system prompt instructions instead.