Anthropic Releases Claude Haiku 5.5, Cutting Small-Model API Prices

Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7, 2026, the newest model in its small-model class, available immediately on the Claude Platform, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure at lower prices than Haiku 4.5. Anthropic said the model costs around 75% less to run on average than its predecessor. Anthropic describes Haiku 5.5 as the cheapest, fastest, and most capable small model it has released, designed for high-volume, cost-sensitive tasks such as summaries, compactions, database queries, and classification requests.

The company said the model pairs with Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 as a subagent on coding work, and that it suits speed-sensitive tasks like live customer support and browser use. A footnote on the announcement qualifies the speed claim: Haiku 5.5 is the company’s fastest model to date at each model’s standard speed, though it runs less quickly than Opus models in Fast Mode.

Haiku 5.5 is Anthropic’s first Haiku-class model with an adjustable effort setting, which allows users to choose whether to optimize for cost or for intelligence. Developers can call it under the model…