Sonnet 5.5 arrives: faster output, but are tasks cheaper?
Provider tests and selected benchmarks do not guarantee savings on your workload. Token rates remain $2 input and $10 output per million tokens. Effort settings, retries and quality requirements affect task costs.
What was claimed?
Anthropic says Sonnet 5.5 generates output over 30% faster and can cost up to 30% less per task than Sonnet 5, while keeping the same token prices.
What does the evidence support?
Company claim, independent confirmation unresolved
Builders can test whether efficiency gains lower the total cost of accepted coding and document work.
What are the limits?
Provider tests and selected benchmarks do not guarantee savings on your workload. Token rates remain $2 input and $10 output per million tokens. Effort settings, retries and quality requirements affect task costs.
Claim or evidence date: 2026-09-28. Last verified: .
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