Anthropic Debuts Claude Haiku 5.5

Anthropic has launched Claude Haiku 5.5, a new model designed for fast, lower-cost AI tasks, including summarization, data classification, database queries and customer support.

Anthropic introduced Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7, 2026, positioning it as a fast, cost-efficient model for high-volume AI tasks. [Photo: Anthropic]

The company announced the model recently, describing it as its “cheapest, fastest, and most capable small model” to date.

Anthropic said Haiku 5.5 costs around 75% less to run on average than Haiku 4.5 and is designed for high-volume applications where speed and cost are important. Anthropic also announced lower cache-read pricing for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and monthly API credits for eligible Claude Max and Team subscribers.

The company said Haiku 5.5 can be paired with more capable models as a subagent for coding and other agent-based workflows. The launch comes amid intensifying competition among AI developers to offer models that balance performance, speed and operating costs.