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opus 5 vs opus 5.5
See how Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 stack up: same answers on three tough reasoning puzzles, up to 69% lower cost, and faster token output.
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Why the Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 Choice Comes Down to Cost
Anthropic markets Opus 5.5 as the leaner, quicker option next to Opus 5. Our runs ask a simpler question: do those savings survive contact with genuinely hard reasoning work?
- The Vendor's Cost and Speed PitchAnthropic advertises a bill around 40% smaller, output more than 30% quicker, and reasoning on par with Claude Fable 5.1 instead of trailing behind Opus 5.
- What Changed in API PricingOpus 5.5 charges $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens, against $5 and $25 before — a rate cut that alone trims about a fifth off the bill.
- How the Reasoning Runs Were Set UpBoth models received the same prompts through the Anthropic API with adaptive thinking at default effort, one run per problem per model.
Inside the Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 Test Setup
Each model faced the same three reasoning problems once, and every call recorded token counts, elapsed time, and list-price spend.
Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5: What the Numbers Show
Spend, token counts, writing throughput, and failure behavior captured across every Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 reasoning run.
Accuracy on the Logic Grid
All 28 cells of the grid came out correct for both models; Opus 5.5 added a note that it had not fully proven the answer was the only one.
Token Economy
Opus 5.5 emitted 62% fewer output tokens on the stone game and landed 43% cheaper on the logic grid, mostly by writing less.
Writing Throughput
Opus 5.5 streamed 103.4 tokens per second versus 93.1 for Opus 5 — roughly 11% quicker, peaking at a 19% edge on a single problem.
Spend Per Problem
The logic grid cost $0.16 on Opus 5.5 against $0.27 on Opus 5, and the stone game $0.58 against $1.88, with $10.50 spent across the whole test.
Where Both Models Stumble
The ordering puzzle beat both: each can spend about 20 minutes thinking and return nothing, and Opus 5.5 ended on a refusal stop reason.
When to Hand Off to Code
For tasks that are really about counting — the ordering test included — give the model a code execution tool instead of trusting it to reason to the number.
Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5: Questions Answered
Straight answers on Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 pricing, streaming speed, and how the two models reason.
Is Opus 5.5 cheaper than Opus 5?
Yes — 43% less on the logic grid and 69% less on the stone game, largely because it produced fewer output tokens.
Is Opus 5.5 faster than Opus 5?
Yes, about 11% quicker across the board, with a 19% best-case lead on one problem — still below the 30% Anthropic claims.
Does Opus 5.5 reason better?
Not on these tests. The two were indistinguishable across all three problems: both solved the logic grid and the stone game, and both failed the constrained ordering puzzle.
Why did Opus 5.5 refuse a harmless prompt?
During the ordering test it returned a refusal stop reason with no text, which looks like a safety filter misfiring on a harmless request.
Should I switch to Opus 5.5?
If Opus 5 is your current model, yes — reasoning quality holds steady while the bill and the wait shrink. Just cap output tokens first.
How do I control costs on hard problems?
Set a firm output ceiling and watch your spend, because either model can think for around 20 minutes and return nothing while tokens still bill.
Run the Opus 5 vs Opus 5.5 Tests on Your Own Prompts
Grab the prompts we used, point both models at your own stack, and shift to Opus 5.5 with an output cap in place so the cheaper, quicker runs actually pay off.