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Claude Sonnet 5.5

The sensible default: close to the top tier for writing, fixing code and everyday work, at about half the price of Claude Opus 5.5.

Last updated October 16, 2026.

Costs here use the prices AI companies charge software developers, so they show relative cost, not your monthly bill. See what ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini charge you.

Made by Anthropic, the company behind Claude. Most capable.

What it costs

1,000-word essay: $0.01 (about 1 cent)
100 chat messages: $2.62
50-page PDF summary: $0.07 (about 7 cents)

Based on list prices and the assumptions on How we work. Your real cost will differ.

At a glance

Smartness: ★★★★★ (5 of 5) (our banding of the Artificial Analysis score, where available)
Reads at once: about 1,500 pages (rule of thumb)
Understands: text, pictures, files
Free to download and run yourself: No
Free to use: Not free for developers. Free app plans

App plans and prices for Claude: see plans.

Best for

writingcodingeveryday work

Watch out for

Not quite the top tier for the very hardest jobs.

Picked for

Appears in

Compare

ChatGPT vs Claude

Frequently asked

How much does Claude Sonnet 5.5 cost to use?
A 1,000-word essay costs about $0.01 (about 1 cent); summarizing a 50-page PDF about $0.07 (about 7 cents). These are developer (API) prices, not an app subscription.

What is Claude Sonnet 5.5 best for?
The sensible default: close to the top tier for writing, fixing code and everyday work, at about half the price of Claude Opus 5.5.

How much can Claude Sonnet 5.5 read at once?
About 1,500 pages (a rule of thumb: 1,000,000 tokens at roughly 500 words a page).

Can I download Claude Sonnet 5.5 for free?
No. It is only available through the maker or other paid services.

Under the hood

Maker	Anthropic
Price per 1M input tokens	$2.00
Price per 1M output tokens	$10.00
Context size	1M tokens (1,000,000)
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index	56 (source, via OpenRouter)
Open weights	No
Speed	Not measured yet
Listed	2026-09-28

Maker's description (technical)

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is Anthropic's Sonnet-class model for well-scoped everyday work, succeeding Claude Sonnet 5 as a direct upgrade. It is especially strong at building features, fixing bugs, and producing...

View on OpenRouter. Our verdict above is editorial, not benchmarked by us.