Fable 5.1 vs. Opus 5.5
Opus 5.5 is an incredible model. It’s a leap forward in almost every category. It’s cost efficient, nice to talk to, decent at coding, and amazing at 3D modeling. It’s my new daily workhorse.
With Opus 5.5 scoring significantly higher than Fable 5.1 on benchmarks and costing significantly less, is there still a reason to use Fable?
I’d argue yes, but for a much narrower set of use cases. I’m reaching for it significantly less.
Fable 5.1 is still my go to when I want something designed with that extra touch of taste and polish I haven’t found in any other model. I also tend to reach for it when I’m writing user facing code. But increasingly, I’m having Fable orchestrate Opus 5.5 rather than do all the work itself.
Anthropic has truly done something special here. With Fable 5.1, we have a model that’s extremely good at working through the most difficult problems. Now, with Opus 5.5, we also have a cost efficient daily workhorse that can handle almost anything.
The new $200 subscription finally feels like it might actually cover a full week of real world work.