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.
Anthropic shipped two strong models in a week—Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5—at unchanged or lower prices, and made Opus the default on Pro in Claude Code. Fable stays the premium model, pay-as-you-go on Pro.
+ 3 good for readers − 1 costs or risks
Good news and bad news, dated
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 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.
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.
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.
The next Fable is rumored, not announced
Leakers point to “Fable 5.2”; some say “5.5”. No date or name from Anthropic.
For you: Don’t buy credits in anticipation of a model that hasn’t shipped.
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.