| Input per 1M tokens | $2 |
| Output per 1M tokens | $10 |
| Cache read per 1M tokens | $0.1 |
| Status | active |
| Source | official pricing page · verified 2026-10-26 |
Cache reads at 0.05× input. Added 2026-10-13 from Anthropic's pricing page.
Example costs
- One request (2,000 in / 500 out): $0.0090
- 100K such requests/month: $900
- 1M input + 1M output tokens: $12
Compare against other models →
How Claude Sonnet 5.5 compares on rate
Claude Sonnet 5.5 runs $2 input / $10 output per MTok — a combined $12 for 1M tokens each way. The cheapest active model in our table, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.1/$0.4 (combined $0.5), is about 96% cheaper on combined rate (verified 2026-10-26).
Cheapest active Anthropic alternative: Claude Haiku 5.5 at $0.1/$0.5 per MTok — combined $0.6 against $12, about 95% less.
Cache reads on Claude Sonnet 5.5 are priced at $0.1 per MTok — 0.05× the fresh input rate of $2. A workload where most requests share a long prefix pays far less than the base-rate estimate.
Per-token rate is not per-task cost — tokenizers differ between model families, so benchmark with your own payloads before switching.
What real volumes cost at Claude Sonnet 5.5 rates
Straight rate-card math at the verified $2/$10 per-MTok prices, assuming a 75% input / 25% output token split — no caching or batch discounts applied.
| Volume | Split | Cost at Claude Sonnet 5.5 rates |
|---|---|---|
| 100K tokens in a day | 75,000 in + 25,000 out | $0.4000 |
| That pace over a 30-day month (3M tokens) | 2.25M in + 750K out | $12.00 |
| 1M tokens in a month | 750,000 in + 250,000 out | $4.00 |
| Heavy month — 12M tokens | 9M in + 3M out | $48.00 |
Change the split or volume in the calculator — same verified rates, your numbers. Method + the corrections that make estimates real: how to estimate LLM API costs.
Frequently asked questions
What does Claude Sonnet 5.5 cost per million tokens?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $10 per 1M output tokens on the Anthropic API, with cache reads at $0.1 per 1M tokens (verified 2026-10-26).
How much does 100K tokens a day cost on Claude Sonnet 5.5?
At a 75% input / 25% output split, 100K tokens costs about $0.4000 at Claude Sonnet 5.5 rates — about $12.00 over a 30-day month. That is straight rate-card math, before any caching or batch discounts.
Is there a cheaper model than Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Yes — the cheapest active model we track is Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.1/$0.4 per MTok, a combined $0.5 against Claude Sonnet 5.5's $12 — about 96% less on combined rate (verified 2026-10-26). Tokenizers differ between families, so benchmark per-task cost with your own payloads.
How much do cache reads cost on Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Cached input on Claude Sonnet 5.5 is billed at $0.1 per 1M tokens — 0.05× the fresh input rate of $2. Workloads where most requests share a long prefix pay far below the base-rate estimate.