Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Claude Haiku 5.5
Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (84 vs 74 out of 100). Claude Haiku 5.5 is about 20× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.20 vs $4). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads 56 to 43.
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 · Anthropic | Claude Haiku 5.5 · Anthropic | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #4 | #7 |
| Score (0–100) | 84 | 74 |
| Tier | Workhorse | Fast and cheap |
| Price per 1M tokens | $2 in · $10 out | $0.10 in · $0.50 out |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Open weights | No | No |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 56 | 43 |
| Best for | Production coding assistants, High-volume agents, Default model for most teams | Classification and extraction, Routing tiers, Latency-sensitive paths |
Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 if…
- you need production coding assistants
- you need high-volume agents
- you need default model for most teams
The value pick of the table: second on the index at a fifth of the Opus price, and the fastest of the top five.
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if…
- you need classification and extraction
- you need routing tiers
- you need latency-sensitive paths
Ten cents a million and, per the people using it, smarter than the other ten-cent model; mind the 100K cliff.
Caveats: Price jumps five-fold above 100K input tokens, which commenters call an absurdly low cutoff for agent runs.
What practitioners say
Claude Sonnet 5.5: Less discussed than its siblings because it just works; the October cache-read price cut to $0.10 per million was the news.
Claude Haiku 5.5: The thread had over a thousand points in a day; the recurring reports are near-perfect structured classification in production and 'noticeably smarter than GPT-6 Luna', against complaints about the 100K pricing tier.
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (84 vs 74 out of 100). Claude Haiku 5.5 is about 20× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.20 vs $4). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads 56 to 43.
When should I choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 over Claude Haiku 5.5?
Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 for production coding assistants, high-volume agents, default model for most teams. The value pick of the table: second on the index at a fifth of the Opus price, and the fastest of the top five.
When should I choose Claude Haiku 5.5 over Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 for classification and extraction, routing tiers, latency-sensitive paths. Ten cents a million and, per the people using it, smarter than the other ten-cent model; mind the 100K cliff.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Oct 10, 2026). Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Oct 10, 2026).
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100: 50% independent evals normalised within this table, 20% price-performance, 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context, speed, availability, open weights). Models within three points are a tie in practice. Vendor-published figures are labelled as such and never counted as independent. Prices are vendor list prices where published; blended figures assume three input tokens per output token.