# Anthropic releases Claude Haiku 5.5 at lower prices than GPT-6 Luna

Digest AI · Generative AI & Models · published 2026-10-07T20:56:21Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/anthropic-releases-claude-haiku-5-5-at-lower-prices-than-gpt-6-luna

## Summary

Anthropic launched **Claude Haiku 5.5** on October 7, 2026, a faster and cheaper model than its predecessor, **Haiku 4.5**, which was released nearly a year ago. The new model matches **GPT-6 Luna**’s pricing—$0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens—up to **100,000 tokens**. Beyond that limit, prices rise sharply: **$0.50/$2.50** for Haiku 5.5, compared to **$0.20/$0.75** for Luna at **272,000 tokens**. A hidden cost increase comes from a new tokenizer, which inflates token counts by about **1.25x** for long prompts, according to the author’s testing tool.

Anthropic also introduced **API credits for subscribers**: **Max 5x users** get **$100/month**, **Max 20x users** receive **$200/month**, and **Team subscribers** get up to **$500/month**, pooled across users. The credits match subscription costs and don’t roll over. The company also halved the price of **cache reads for Sonnet 5.5** and added an option to disable auto-reload for API requests, preventing unexpected billing surprises. The author tested Haiku 5.5’s speed and cost, noting a **low-effort pelican SVG** generated in **7 seconds for 0.0936 cents**, while a **max-effort version** took **5 minutes 9 seconds for 3.3826 cents**.

## Key points

- Claude Haiku 5.5 matches GPT-6 Luna’s pricing up to 100,000 tokens at $0.10/$0.50 per million
- Token count increases by 1.25x due to a new tokenizer, raising hidden costs for long prompts
- Anthropic offers monthly API credits to subscribers: $100 for Max 5x, $200 for Max 20x, $500 for Team

## Why it matters

Haiku 5.5’s pricing aligns with OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna for short prompts, making it a competitive alternative for cost-sensitive workloads. The new tokenizer and credits could shift API usage patterns, though Luna remains cheaper for longer inputs.

## Sources

1. [Claude Haiku 5.5](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Oct/7/claude-haiku-5-5) (Simon Willison, 2026-10-07)

Part of the developing story: [Anthropic Launches Claude 5.5 Suite Across Clouds](https://digestai.news/thread/claude-sonnet-5-5-rivals-opus-with-thinking-budget-settings) (7 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Anthropic releases Claude Haiku 5.5 at lower prices than GPT-6 Luna", 7 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/anthropic-releases-claude-haiku-5-5-at-lower-prices-than-gpt-6-luna

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