Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh vs Claude Haiku 5.5 Max compared

Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh leads the intelligence index 50.0 to 36.5. Price per token, response speed and when to pick each.

Metric	Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)	Claude Haiku 5.5 (Max)
Intelligence Index	50.0	36.5
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$10.00	$0.10
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$50.00	$0.50
Output speed (tokens/s)	61	233
Time to first token	98s	4.6 min
Release date	2026-09-01	2026-10-07

Metric

Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)

Claude Haiku 5.5 (Max)

Intelligence Index

50.0

36.5

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$10.00

$0.10

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$50.00

$0.50

Output speed (tokens/s)

233

Time to first token

98s

4.6 min

Release date

2026-09-01

2026-10-07

This is an all-Anthropic comparison, with Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) on one side and Claude Haiku 5.5 (Max) on the other. The figures come from tracked catalogue data, not from our own testing, so treat them as a starting point for a trial on your tasks. Cost is where they split the most, with Claude Haiku 5.5 Max working out at about 1% of Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh's blended rate.

What they cost

Per million tokens, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh charges $10.00 for input and $50.00 for output, while Claude Haiku 5.5 Max charges $0.10 and $0.50. Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh costs 100 times as much per output token.

A reference job of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens costs $20.00 with Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and $0.20 with Claude Haiku 5.5 Max, so Claude Haiku 5.5 Max saves $19.80. Scale it up to a chat app with 50,000 sessions of 800 input and 300 output tokens and the bill is $1,150 for Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh against $11.50 for Claude Haiku 5.5 Max.

Release timing

Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh came first, on September 1, 2026; Claude Haiku 5.5 Max followed on October 7, 2026. They are effectively contemporaries.

How the intelligence index compares

On the intelligence index, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh scores 50.0 against 36.5 for Claude Haiku 5.5 Max. This is a substantial lead, not a near miss.

Among 109 active scored models, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh sits 18th and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max 37th.

The catalogue does not yet split either model's score into coding and math indexes.

Is the price in proportion?

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.40 for Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and $0.0055 for Claude Haiku 5.5 Max, per million tokens. So Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh buys its higher score at a premium, while Claude Haiku 5.5 Max is the value pick, paying 99% less per point.

Speed and latency

Once a response is under way, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh produces roughly 61 tokens per second against 233 tokens per second for Claude Haiku 5.5 Max. Claude Haiku 5.5 Max is ahead by 280% on throughput. Before any text appears, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh takes 98 seconds and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max 4.6 minutes. On total time, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh wins at ordinary lengths; Claude Haiku 5.5 Max's higher throughput only pays off beyond about 15,000 tokens. A first-token wait of that length suits background work better than live conversation.

For a 600-token response, first token plus generation comes to roughly 108 seconds on Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and 4.7 minutes on Claude Haiku 5.5 Max.

Quick answers

Is Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh better than Claude Haiku 5.5 Max?

It depends on what you need: Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh scores higher on the intelligence index, 50.0 to 36.5; Claude Haiku 5.5 Max is 99% cheaper on blended price; Claude Haiku 5.5 Max streams output 3.8 times as fast; and Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh reaches its first token sooner.

How much do Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max cost?

Claude Haiku 5.5 Max is cheaper on a blended basis. Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh lists $10.00 per million input tokens and $50.00 per million output tokens; Claude Haiku 5.5 Max lists $0.10 and $0.50. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $20.00 against $0.20.

Are Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max from the same company?

Both are Anthropic models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh was released on September 1, 2026 and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max on October 7, 2026.

When were Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh and Claude Haiku 5.5 Max released?

Claude Haiku 5.5 Max is newer. It was released on October 7, 2026, 36 days after Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh (September 1, 2026).

Does Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh respond faster than Claude Haiku 5.5 Max?

Claude Haiku 5.5 Max generates output faster, at 233 tokens per second against 61 tokens per second. Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh reaches its first token sooner (98 seconds against 4.6 minutes). Counting the first-token wait, Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh finishes first for any reply shorter than about 15,000 tokens.

Final whistle

In one line: on balance the numbers favour Claude Haiku 5.5 Max, though Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh keeps a case of its own. Pick Claude Haiku 5.5 Max if cost matters ($0.50 against $50.00 per million output tokens) and you generate very long outputs, beyond about 15,000 tokens. Pick Claude Fable 5.1 Xhigh if you need the higher overall score (50.0 against 36.5) and replies need to finish sooner at typical lengths.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) and Claude Haiku 5.5 (Max) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.