AnthropicProprietaryReleased Sep 28, 2026Claude Sonnet 5.5 pricing, benchmarks and cost analysis
Epoch Capabilities Index (ECI)range 163.1 to 171.3Statistically tied with the top (Claude Opus 5.5)
Throughput not measured for this model
In $2.00Out $10.00 per 1MCache discount 95%
Context window, tokens
Ranks are among the 101 models we track (intelligence = Epoch Capabilities Index by Epoch AI, CC BY 4.0; intelligence and speed: among those with data; cost: #1 is cheapest). Monthly cost uses the default workload of 2,000 input and 500 output tokens, 10,000 requests a day, 40% cached.
Comparison summary
On the default workload (2,000 input and 500 output tokens, 10,000 requests a day, 40% cached), Claude Sonnet 5.5 comes to $2,244 a month, 157% above the $873 median of the 101 models we track. It ranks #70 of 101 on cost, where #1 is the cheapest.
It scores 166.2 on the Epoch Capabilities Index (#6 of 66). Among the 2 other models within 2 points, none costs less, and it costs 67% less than their median ($6,702). Among stable-priced models, nothing that scores as high on ECI is cheaper for this workload.
Cached input is 95% cheaper than fresh input, a bigger discount than the 90% median. It is a proprietary model served by Anthropic. The batch API cuts the default workload to $1,122 a month.
Technical specifications
- Context window
- 1M tokens
- Input price
- $2.00 / 1M
- Cached input price
- $0.100 / 1M
- Output price
- $10.00 / 1M
- Cache discount
- 95%
- Batch API
- Available
- Batch input / cached / output
- $1.00 / $0.050 / $5.00
- Open weights
- No
- Release date
- Sep 28, 2026
- Price volatility
- Stable
Benchmarks
Best score for this model on each leaderboard, ranked against the other models listed there.
Your monthly bill
Standard
$2,244 / month- Input
- $720.00
- Cached input
- $24.00
- Output
- $1,500.00
Batch
$1,122 / month- Input
- $360.00
- Cached input
- $12.00
- Output
- $750.00
On the default workload the batch API costs $1,122 a month against $2,244 standard.
Price history
- Oct 8, 2026Cached input $0.200 → $0.100▼ 50%