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LLMS • CURATED • UPDATED SEP 22, 2026

Claude Opus 5.5

Anthropic's cheaper, faster follow-up to Opus 5, priced near Fable 5.1's level

Claude Opus 5.5 is Anthropic's September 22, 2026 update to Opus 5, priced at $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output (down from $5/$25), with cache reads cut from $0.50 to $0.20 per million and cache writes from $6.25 to $5. A faster mode in Claude Code and the Claude Platform runs up to 2.5x quicker at $8/$40 per million tokens. Anthropic's own benchmarks put it ahead of the larger Claude Fable 5.1 on agentic coding (66.4% vs 55.8% on Terminal-Bench 4.0), computer use (81.8% vs 80.7% on OSWorld 2.0), and knowledge work (1846 vs 1735 Elo on GDPval-AA v2.1), while generating output more than 30% faster than Opus 5. Five-hour usage limits on Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans were also increased alongside the release.

QUICK FACTS

Pricing Paid
Platforms web, api, desktop
API Yes
Open Source No
Modalities LLMs, IDEs & Coding Tools
Best For Best Value Frontier Claude Model
Date Added 2026-09-22

WHY WE PICKED IT

It is priced 20% below Opus 5 on the headline rate and roughly 40% cheaper on typical agentic workloads once cache-read savings are counted, while benchmarking ahead of the more expensive Fable 5.1 on the coding and computer-use tasks this directory's readers actually run. That combination, cheaper than its own predecessor and ahead of the tier above it, is unusual enough to be the pick over Opus 5 for anyone already on Claude.

STRENGTHS

LIMITATIONS

GETTING STARTED

Access via the Claude API, Claude Code, or the Claude apps at model id claude-opus-5-5. Existing Opus 5 integrations can generally switch over directly; use the faster mode in Claude Code when latency matters more than squeezing out the last point of quality.

OFFICIAL LINKS

Website↗ API Docs↗

SIMILAR TOOLS

Google Antigravity 2.0 Claude Fable 5 GPT-6 Astra NotebookLM Claude Opus 5

PRICING

Paid

Requires a paid subscription.

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EXPLORE ALTERNATIVES

View Claude Opus 5.5 Alternatives (2026) →

Compare Claude Opus 5.5 with 5+ similar llms AI tools.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q

Is Claude Opus 5.5 free?

A

No, Claude Opus 5.5 requires a paid subscription.

Q

Does Claude Opus 5.5 have an API?

A

Yes, Claude Opus 5.5 offers an API for programmatic integration.

Q

What is Claude Opus 5.5 best for?

A

Claude Opus 5.5 is best for Best Value Frontier Claude Model. Claude Opus 5. It is priced 20% below Opus 5 on the headline rate and roughly 40% cheaper on typical agentic workloads once cache-read savings are counted, while benchmarking ahead of the more expensive Fable 5.1 on the coding and computer-use tasks this directory's readers actually run. That combination, cheaper than its own predecessor and ahead of the tier above it, is unusual enough to be the pick over Opus 5 for anyone already on Claude.

Q

What platforms does Claude Opus 5.5 support?

A

Claude Opus 5.5 supports web, api, desktop.

Q

Is Claude Opus 5.5 open source?

A

No, Claude Opus 5.5 is not open source.

Q

How do I get started with Claude Opus 5.5?

A

Access via the Claude API, Claude Code, or the Claude apps at model id claude-opus-5-5. Existing Opus 5 integrations can generally switch over directly; use the faster mode in Claude Code when latency matters more than squeezing out the last point of quality.

Q

How do I use Claude Opus 5.5?

A

Claude Opus 5.5 is a large language model for text generation, analysis, and conversation. Access through the web interface. Enter prompts or questions to get responses. It excels at 20% cheaper on the headline rate than opus 5, ~40% cheaper on typical agentic workloads.

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