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AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Claude Haiku 5.5

Two Anthropic tiers compared on the figures that decide which one a workload actually needs.

Claude Haiku 4.5: profile checked October 25, 2026Claude Haiku 5.5: profile checked October 25, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: Medium — see receipts below

Anthropic

Claude Haiku 4.5

Budget

vs

Anthropic

Claude Haiku 5.5

Budget

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationClaude Haiku 4.5Claude Haiku 5.5
ProviderAnthropicAnthropic
TierBudgetBudget
Context window200KWinner: 1M
Max output64KWinner: 128K
Input / 1M tokens$1Winner: $0.10
Output / 1M tokens$5Winner: $0.50
WeightsClosedNot verifiedUnverified
ParametersNot verifiedUnverifiedNot verifiedUnverified
Reasoning levelsextended thinking (budget_tokens)Not verifiedUnverified
Modalitiestext, imagetext, image
API model idclaude-haiku-4-5-20251001claude-haiku-5-5
ReleasedOctober 15, 2025October 7, 2026
SWE-bench Verified [high] · source date Claude Haiku 4.5: 2026-02-1766.6Not verifiedUnverified
SWE-bench Verified · source date Claude Haiku 4.5: 2025-10-1573.3Not verifiedUnverified
Terminal-Bench · source date Claude Haiku 4.5: 2025-10-1540.21Not verifiedUnverified

Dates beside benchmark scores refer to the linked source’s publication or capture date unless that source explicitly states when it measured the result. A shared URL alone does not establish comparable runs; unverified setups are marked. Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

Pricing tiers

Claude Haiku 4.5: Standard $1/$5 per MTok; cache reads $0.10, 5-minute writes $1.25 and 1-hour writes $2. Batch $0.50/$2.50. Context 200K and output 64K. Reliable knowledge cutoff Feb 2025; training cutoff Jul 2025. The alias claude-haiku-4-5 resolves to claude-haiku-4-5-20251001. Retirement not sooner than October 15, 2026; no definite shutdown is announced.

Claude Haiku 5.5: Base rates apply to prompts up to 100,000 tokens. Above 100,000 tokens, input is $0.50 and output $2.50 per MTok. Cache reads are $0.01/$0.05; 5-minute writes $0.125/$0.625 and 1-hour writes $0.20/$1 for short/long prompts. Batch input/output receives a 50% discount. Standard output is 128K; 300K Batch output requires the documented beta header. Adaptive thinking defaults to medium effort.

BudgetRecord checked October 25, 2026

Claude Haiku 4.5

Anthropic's earlier Haiku model for classification and extraction, retained for existing 200K-context workloads and historical evaluations.

Best for

  • High-volume classification
  • Routine extraction
  • Latency-sensitive stacks

Watch out

Active legacy, still served; the recommended Haiku 5.5 successor released October 7, 2026. Manual extended thinking uses budget_tokens rather than adaptive thinking or selectable effort. The October 15, 2026 earliest retirement commitment has passed, but no definite shutdown is announced. The convenience alias resolves to claude-haiku-4-5-20251001. Earlier models such as this do not support inference_geo; sending it errors rather than enabling US-only pricing.

BudgetRecord checked October 25, 2026

Claude Haiku 5.5

Anthropic positions Haiku 5.5 for high-volume classification, extraction, routing and subagent tasks, with adaptive thinking and a 1M-token context window.

Best for

  • Classification and extraction
  • Routing
  • High-volume subagent tasks

Watch out

Prices increase fivefold above 100K prompt tokens. The newer tokenizer counts approximately 30% more tokens than Haiku 4.5 for the same text. Omit temperature, top_p and top_k. Thinking blocks are reusable only in the producing account or a linked account. Parameter count and weight availability remain unverified; no predecessor benchmark scores are inherited.

When the cheaper one wins

Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper on output at $0.50 per million tokens against $5 for Claude Haiku 4.5 — about 10×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. This compares standard short-context token rates, not total cost per accepted task. Include input, cache, context tiers, schedules, retries and review in your pilot.

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Evidence confidence: Medium

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: parameter count, reasoning levels.
  • No directly aligned benchmark setup — No benchmark has matching cited sources, source dates, units, effort and recorded run details on both models.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Older of the two catalog checks was 1 day ago.
  • Source citations incomplete — At least one side lacks the two-source citation set.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Claude Haiku 4.5 · Claude Haiku 5.5

Common questions

Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Claude Haiku 5.5

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Claude Haiku 4.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5 cheaper for input?
Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper at $0.10 per million input tokens, against $1 for Claude Haiku 4.5 — roughly 10× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Claude Haiku 4.5: Standard $1/$5 per MTok; cache reads $0.10, 5-minute writes $1.25 and 1-hour writes $2. Batch $0.50/$2.50. Context 200K and output 64K. Reliable knowledge cutoff Feb 2025; training cutoff Jul 2025. The alias claude-haiku-4-5 resolves to claude-haiku-4-5-20251001. Retirement not sooner than October 15, 2026; no definite shutdown is announced. Claude Haiku 5.5: Base rates apply to prompts up to 100,000 tokens. Above 100,000 tokens, input is $0.50 and output $2.50 per MTok. Cache reads are $0.01/$0.05; 5-minute writes $0.125/$0.625 and 1-hour writes $0.20/$1 for short/long prompts. Batch input/output receives a 50% discount. Standard output is 128K; 300K Batch output requires the documented beta header. Adaptive thinking defaults to medium effort.
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5 cheaper for output?
Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper at $0.50 per million output tokens, against $5 for Claude Haiku 4.5 — roughly 10× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Claude Haiku 4.5: Standard $1/$5 per MTok; cache reads $0.10, 5-minute writes $1.25 and 1-hour writes $2. Batch $0.50/$2.50. Context 200K and output 64K. Reliable knowledge cutoff Feb 2025; training cutoff Jul 2025. The alias claude-haiku-4-5 resolves to claude-haiku-4-5-20251001. Retirement not sooner than October 15, 2026; no definite shutdown is announced. Claude Haiku 5.5: Base rates apply to prompts up to 100,000 tokens. Above 100,000 tokens, input is $0.50 and output $2.50 per MTok. Cache reads are $0.01/$0.05; 5-minute writes $0.125/$0.625 and 1-hour writes $0.20/$1 for short/long prompts. Batch input/output receives a 50% discount. Standard output is 128K; 300K Batch output requires the documented beta header. Adaptive thinking defaults to medium effort.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Haiku 5.5 accepts 1M tokens against 200K for Claude Haiku 4.5. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use Claude Haiku 4.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Both are classified in our budget tier; this editorial grouping does not imply equal capability. Claude Haiku 4.5 is a candidate for high-volume classification; Claude Haiku 5.5 is a candidate for classification and extraction. Compare accuracy, tool reliability, latency and cost on representative tasks.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 per 1M tokens versus $1 for Claude Haiku 4.5 — a 10x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: Claude Haiku 5.5 takes 1M against 200K for Claude Haiku 4.5 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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