Anthropic: what changed, and what it means for you
Claude models, plans and Claude Code. What changed, what it costs you, and what to do.
On October 30 Anthropic renamed Max 20x to Ultra: still $200 a month, with no five-hour limit for verified accounts. Before that it shipped Haiku 5.5, its cheapest model, on October 7, after Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 in September—and made Opus the default on Pro in Claude Code. On November 9 it released Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2, with Fable 5.2 at $8 / $40 per million tokens.
+ 7 good for readers − 1 costs or risks
Good news and bad news, dated
Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 are out
Fable 5.2 costs $8 / $40 per million tokens, down from $10 / $50, with output up to 30% faster than 5.1. It is on the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry and Claude Platform on AWS.
For you: Developers: test claude-fable-5-2 against your current model before switching.
Max 20x is now Ultra: no five-hour limit for verified accounts
Same $200 a month. Ultra gets 10× Pro usage every week, no five-hour limit once Anthropic verifies the account, and $200 a month in API credits (Max gets $100). Max 20x subscribers moved over automatically.
For you: If the five-hour limit was what stopped you on Max, Ultra removes it. Check Settings > Usage: no Current session bar means your account is verified.
Haiku 5.5: 1M context from $0.10 / $0.50
$0.10 input / $0.50 output per million tokens for prompts up to 100K tokens ($0.50 / $2.50 above that), with a 1M-token context and 128K max output. Anthropic says it is “75% less to run” than Haiku 4.5.
For you: Developers: a much cheaper default for classification, extraction and routing—test it on your task before switching.
Sonnet 5.5 cache reads cut to $0.10
Anthropic’s API release notes cut the price of Sonnet 5.5 prompt-cache reads to $0.10 per million tokens.
For you: Developers with long, repeated prompts: cached reads cost less with no code change.
Sonnet 5.5: faster and cheaper per task, same price
$2 / $10 per million tokens, 1M context. Anthropic reports scores close to Opus 5.5 on several benchmarks and up to 30% lower cost per task than Sonnet 5.
For you: Startups: a strong model you can afford to put in your product.
Sonnet 5.5 falls back to Sonnet 5 on high-risk cyber requests
The first Sonnet with Opus-style cyber safeguards. Routine bug fixing is unaffected.
For you: Security teams: expect visible model switches on some requests.
Opus 5.5 reaches Kiro’s paid tiers
Experimental support for Pro, Pro+, Pro Max and Power at a 2.0× credit multiplier.
For you: Kiro users can try Opus 5.5 without a Claude plan.
Opus 5.5 launches; Claude Code makes it Pro’s default
Claude Code 2.1.280 made Opus 5.5 the default Opus and switched Pro and Team Standard from Sonnet to Opus by default.
For you: Pro users get Anthropic’s daily-driver model without paying more.
Fable on Pro is pay-as-you-go only
The all-plans Fable 5 promotion ended July 19. Fable 5 and 5.1 are included on Max and premium seats (up to 50% of weekly limits); Pro and Team Standard use usage credits.
For you: On $20 Pro, start with Opus 5.5 or Sonnet 5.5.
Which Anthropic model for which job
What to do now
Sonnet 5.5 makes a frontier-class model affordable in your product; price your features around task cost, not token price.
Use Opus 5.5 for open-ended work, Sonnet 5.5 for well-scoped tasks; migration changes (thinking on by default, no forced tool choice) can break old code.
On $20 Pro, Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 are included; Fable costs extra credits.