Claude 5 Release Date: Every Claude 5 Model So Far (2026)
Claude 5 is no longer a rumor, because Anthropic has been shipping Claude 5 models since June 2026.
The real question now is when the next update arrives, and Anthropic has not announced one.
This guide lists every Claude 5 release with its date and price, shows how fast the updates have come, and says what is and is not confirmed as of November 13, 2026.
Claude 5 release dates at a glance
| Model | Release date | API price per million tokens (input / output) | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 and Mythos 5 | June 9, 2026 | Fable 5 is double Opus 4.8’s price ($10 / $50) | Fable 5 is public, Mythos 5 is limited to approved users |
| Sonnet 5 | June 30, 2026 | $2 / $10 through Aug. 31, then $3 / $15 | Default for Free and Pro, also Max, Team and Enterprise |
| Opus 5 | July 24, 2026 | $5 / $25 | Default for Max, available on paid plans |
| Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 | Sept. 2, 2026 | $10 / $50 | Fable 5.1 is general, Mythos 5.1 is trusted access only |
| Opus 5.5 | Sept. 22, 2026 | $4 / $20 | AWS, Google Cloud and Azure |
| Sonnet 5.5 | Sept. 28, 2026 | Listed as unchanged from Sonnet 5 (see note below) | Anthropic called it its most capable mid-tier model; availability details were not listed in the coverage reviewed |
| Haiku 5.5 | Oct. 7, 2026 | $0.10 / $0.50 for prompts up to 100,000 tokens | Claude website, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure |
| Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 | Nov. 9, 2026 | Fable 5.2 is $8 / $40 | Fable 5.2 on all platforms, Mythos 5.2 for vetted organizations |
Is Claude 5 out yet?
Yes, the Claude 5 generation launched on June 9, 2026, with Fable 5, which Anthropic positioned as its first Mythos-class model for general use.
It arrived alongside Mythos 5, which went to people who already had access to Claude Mythos Preview, including Project Glasswing partners.
Axios reported that Fable 5 automatically hands higher-risk cyber, biology, chemistry and distillation requests to the less capable Opus 4.8.
The naming changed along the way, because the top tier is now called Fable, with Mythos as the restricted version of the same family.
What came right before Claude 5?
Before the Claude 5 launch, Anthropic’s flagship line was Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6 in February 2026, followed by Opus 4.7.
Opus 4.8 arrived on May 28, 2026, at the same $5 / $25 price as Opus 4.7.
At that launch, Anthropic said Mythos-class models would reach all customers in the coming weeks, once extra cyber safeguards were in place.
That is the model family that became Fable 5 about two weeks later.
For background on the earlier step, see our report on Claude Opus 4.7 and the restricted Mythos model.
How fast does Anthropic ship new models?
The pace has changed from one big release a year to several updates in a single quarter.
| Line | Release | Days since previous release |
|---|---|---|
| Opus | Opus 4.8 (May 28) to Opus 5 (July 24) | 57 |
| Opus | Opus 5 (July 24) to Opus 5.5 (Sept. 22) | 60 |
| Fable | Fable 5 (June 9) to Fable 5.1 (Sept. 2) | 85 |
| Fable | Fable 5.1 (Sept. 2) to Fable 5.2 (Nov. 9) | 68 |
Axios counted Opus 5 as Anthropic’s fourth Claude 5 model in less than two months.
The day counts above are simple date arithmetic from the release dates, not an Anthropic schedule.
When is the next Claude model coming?
Anthropic has not announced a release date or a name for its next model.
None of the launch coverage reviewed for this article names a future release, and the Fable 5.2 reports describe no upcoming models.
Gaps of roughly two to three months between updates in the same line are a pattern, not a promise.
Treat any exact date you see online as a guess until it appears on Anthropic’s own news page.
Which Claude model should you use now?
Anthropic’s own advice with the Fable 5.2 launch is to start with Opus 5.5 for most coding and knowledge work.
- Move up to Fable or Mythos: for the most ambitious, open-ended technical work.
- Move down to Sonnet 5.5: for everyday tasks such as documents, summaries, spreadsheets and bug fixes, where Anthropic says output is over 30% faster than the previous generation.
- Move down to Haiku 5.5: for high-volume jobs such as summaries, database queries, live support and browser tasks.
Subscribers should also compare plan limits, which we cover in Claude Pro vs Max vs Ultra.
What is new in Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2?
The latest release, on November 9, 2026, is the second major update to Fable 5 since June.
- Quality: Anthropic says coding, reasoning and vision are better.
- Speed: outputs are up to 30% faster than Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1.
- Price: Fable 5.2 costs $8 / $40 per million tokens, below the previous $10 / $50.
- Agents: it can orchestrate teams of agents.
- Access: Mythos 5.2 stays limited to vetted organizations in the Life Sciences and Cyber Verification Programs.
Details come from SD Times and 9to5Mac.
Why are Mythos models restricted?
Mythos models are the same underlying model as Fable with fewer safeguards, which Anthropic limits to trusted-access programs.
Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 were described as one model with different safeguard levels, with Mythos reserved for cybersecurity and life sciences work.
Axios also reported in late June that the U.S. government had asked Anthropic to take down some of these models over security concerns, and that Anthropic was waiting for approval to restore full access.
That history is the main reason Mythos access is described as expanding gradually rather than opening at once.
Which models got cheaper?
| Model | Price change |
|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | Same $10 / $50 list price as Fable 5, with cache reads down 75% to $0.25 per million tokens |
| Opus 5.5 | $4 / $20, which Anthropic says is 20% below Opus 5 |
| Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 / $0.50 against $1 / $5 for Haiku 4.5, an average saving Anthropic estimates at about 75% |
| Fable 5.2 | $8 / $40, down from $10 / $50 |
The savings figures are Anthropic’s own estimates and depend on your workload.
How to check for a new Claude release yourself
- Watch Anthropic’s news page for launch posts.
- Look for the API model name, such as claude-haiku-5-5, in the developer documentation before building on a model.
Our explainer on claims that Claude got worse covers a related question about model quality.