Anthropic Releases Claude Sonnet 5.5: Faster and Cheaper to Run

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Published October 2026 · AI News

Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5 on September 28, 2026. It is the new mid-range model in the Claude 5.5 family, aimed at everyday coding and office work such as bug fixes, documents, slides and spreadsheets.

Key changes

Claude Sonnet 5.5
SpeedMore than 30% faster than Sonnet 5 (Anthropic’s claim)
Cost per taskUp to 30% lower, because it uses fewer tokens for the same work
Per-token priceUnchanged
AvailabilityAcross Anthropic’s apps and API now
NextClaude Haiku 5.5 is planned for later

Anthropic also says Sonnet 5.5 includes cybersecurity safeguards similar to its most capable models, without affecting routine software development.

What it means for you

If you use Claude Pro or Claude Code, everyday tasks should feel noticeably quicker, and limits should stretch further because each task uses fewer tokens. Developers paying per token get the same rate with lower typical bills.

Compare plans in our Claude pricing guide, or see how Claude stacks up in ChatGPT vs Claude and Claude Code vs Cursor.