Claude Haiku 5.5: Pricing, Benchmarks & How to Use It in Claude Code
Quick Answer: Claude Haiku 5.5, released October 7, 2026, is Anthropic's fastest and cheapest coding model — roughly 75% cheaper than Haiku 4.5 at $0.10/$0.50 per million input/output tokens. It offers a 1M-token context window and runs inside Claude Code via /model claude-haiku-5-5, plus GitHub Copilot, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, and Azure.
Anthropic just made AI coding dramatically cheaper. Claude Haiku 5.5, released on October 7, 2026, cuts costs by roughly 75% compared to its predecessor while keeping the speed that made the Haiku line famous. If you burn through API credits running coding agents, subagents, or autocomplete — this model was built for you.
In this guide, you'll get the full breakdown: exact pricing, benchmark highlights, a head-to-head comparison table, and a step-by-step setup for using Haiku 5.5 inside Claude Code.
What Is Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Haiku 5.5 is the newest entry in Anthropic's Haiku family — the line optimized for speed and cost-efficiency rather than maximum reasoning power. Think of it as the workhorse model: ideal for high-volume tasks like code completion, agentic sub-tasks, test generation, and documentation, where you need thousands of fast, cheap calls instead of a few expensive deep-thinking ones.
Key specifications at launch:
- Release date: October 7, 2026
- Context window: 1 million tokens
- Adaptive thinking: adjustable effort levels for speed vs. depth
- Positioning: subagent and worker model for agentic coding workflows
- Availability: supported until at least October 7, 2027
Claude Haiku 5.5 Pricing: How Cheap Is It Really?
Here is the headline number: $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens for prompts up to 100K tokens. That is roughly 75% cheaper than Haiku 4.5.
One important detail: there is a 5x price cliff above 100K tokens — very long prompts cost significantly more. For typical coding tasks (which rarely exceed 100K tokens of context), you stay in the cheap tier.
What does this mean in practice?
A developer running an agentic coding loop that previously cost $20/day on a mid-tier model could see that drop to around $5/day on Haiku 5.5 — with comparable output quality for routine coding tasks. For teams running subagents at scale, the savings compound fast.
Benchmarks: How Does Haiku 5.5 Perform?
Early coverage positions Haiku 5.5 as a coding-agent specialist rather than an all-around flagship. Independent comparisons (such as Mistral Large 4 vs. GLM-5.3 vs. Claude Haiku 5.5 for coding agents) are already appearing, and the consistent takeaway is: best-in-class price-to-performance for agentic coding workloads.
What to know:
- Optimized for coding, reasoning, and agentic work — not positioned as a general flagship.
- Adaptive thinking lets you dial effort up for harder problems or down for maximum throughput.
- For deep, complex reasoning, Anthropic still points you to Claude Sonnet 5.5 (launched the same week, with alignment and cybersecurity capabilities said to match the prior Opus 5 flagship).
Claude Haiku 5.5 vs. Alternatives: Comparison Table
| Model | Input / Output (per 1M tokens) | Context | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 / $0.50 (≤100K tokens) | 1M | Cheap, fast agentic coding & subagents |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Higher (flagship tier) | Large | Complex reasoning, harder coding tasks |
| Mistral Large 4 ("Le Chonk") | API preview pricing | 1M | Open-weights MoE; vision & cybersecurity strength |
| Reflection Beam | TBD (open weights soon) | 1M | Open-weight coding/reasoning (Apache 2.0) |
| GPT-6 (ChatGPT) | Chat subscription | Large | General chat & consumer use |
Pricing for competitors varies by provider and tier — always check the official pricing page before committing. Haiku 5.5 figures are Anthropic's launch pricing for prompts ≤100K tokens.
How to Use Claude Haiku 5.5 in Claude Code (Step by Step)
Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool, and Haiku 5.5 slots in as the cost-efficient engine for it. Here is how to switch:
Step 1: Update Claude Code
Haiku 5.5 requires Claude Code v2.1.293 or newer. Update first:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest
Verify with claude --version.
Step 2: Select the Model
Inside a Claude Code session, run:
/model claude-haiku-5-5
This switches your session to Haiku 5.5. You can switch back to Sonnet anytime with /model and picking your preferred model.
Step 3: Use It as a Subagent Model
The real power move: keep Sonnet (or Opus) as your main agent for planning, and delegate execution sub-tasks — file edits, test runs, doc generation — to Haiku 5.5 subagents. You get flagship-quality orchestration with worker-model pricing on the bulk of the tokens.
Step 4: Watch Your Context Size
Remember the 5x price cliff above 100K tokens. For routine tasks, keep prompts lean — Haiku 5.5 is at its cheapest (and fastest) well under that threshold.
Where Else Can You Use Haiku 5.5?
- GitHub Copilot — generally available since October 8, 2026
- AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Azure AI Foundry — enterprise deployment
- Vercel AI Gateway — for app builders
- Anthropic API — direct integration
Best Use Cases for Claude Haiku 5.5
- Agentic coding loops — the primary design target; cheap enough to run continuously.
- Code review subagents — fast first-pass reviews before human or flagship-model review.
- Test generation — high-volume, well-specified output.
- Documentation — docstrings, README updates, changelogs.
- Autocomplete at scale — teams serving many developers.
When NOT to use it
For novel architecture decisions, tricky debugging, or security-sensitive code review, step up to Sonnet 5.5. Haiku 5.5 is the fast worker, not the deep thinker.
🚀 Bonus: Level Up Your AI Coding Prompts
Using Haiku 5.5 in Claude Code or Copilot? The right prompts make a cheap model perform like an expensive one. Our AI prompt packs include battle-tested prompts for developers, creators, and freelancers — engineered to get maximum output from any AI model.
Key Takeaways
- Claude Haiku 5.5 launched October 7, 2026 — ~75% cheaper than Haiku 4.5 at $0.10/$0.50 per million tokens (≤100K).
- 1M-token context with adaptive thinking; positioned as the subagent/worker model for agentic coding.
- Use it in Claude Code via
/model claude-haiku-5-5(needs v2.1.293+); also on GitHub Copilot, Bedrock, Vertex, and Azure. - Watch the 5x price cliff above 100K tokens — keep prompts lean for maximum savings.
- Pair a flagship model for planning with Haiku 5.5 subagents for execution — best cost-to-quality ratio.
- Supported until at least October 7, 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Claude Haiku 5.5 released?
Claude Haiku 5.5 was released on October 7, 2026, alongside Claude Sonnet 5.5. It became generally available in GitHub Copilot on October 8, 2026.
How much does Claude Haiku 5.5 cost?
$0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens for prompts up to 100K tokens — roughly 75% cheaper than Haiku 4.5. Prompts above 100K tokens cost 5x more, so keep context lean.
How do I use Claude Haiku 5.5 in Claude Code?
Update to Claude Code v2.1.293 or newer, then run /model claude-haiku-5-5 inside your session. You can switch models anytime with the /model command.
Is Claude Haiku 5.5 better than Sonnet 5.5?
Not "better" — different. Haiku 5.5 wins on speed and cost for high-volume coding tasks. Sonnet 5.5 wins on deep reasoning, complex architecture, and difficult debugging. Most developers use both: Sonnet plans, Haiku executes.
Does Claude Haiku 5.5 work with GitHub Copilot?
Yes. Haiku 5.5 became generally available in GitHub Copilot on October 8, 2026, one day after its official release.
What is the context window of Claude Haiku 5.5?
1 million tokens. However, note the pricing cliff: prompts above 100K tokens are charged at 5x the base rate, so the sweet spot is well under 100K.
How long will Claude Haiku 5.5 be available?
Anthropic has committed to supporting Haiku 5.5 until at least October 7, 2027 — a full year from launch.
Conclusion
Claude Haiku 5.5 is the most developer-friendly release of October 2026: flagship-adjacent coding ability at a price that makes always-on agentic workflows affordable. If you live in Claude Code or Copilot, switching your worker tasks to Haiku 5.5 is the easiest cost win available right now.
Try the /model claude-haiku-5-5 switch today, keep your prompts under 100K tokens, and let the savings compound. For more AI tool breakdowns and prompt guides, explore our AI tools and AI prompts sections on Boostnetic.