Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Claude Haiku 5.5: which should you use?
Prices, limits and measured figures for both models on Wokey, side by side. The data comes first, then when it points to Claude Sonnet 5.5 and when to Claude Haiku 5.5.
Side by side
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Claude Haiku 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Wokey input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.3 | $0.08 |
| Wokey output price (per 1M tokens) | $1.5 | $0.4 |
| Wokey cache read price | $0.015 | $0.008 |
| Official price (input / output) | $2 / $10 | $0.1 / $0.5 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 128K |
| Image input | Yes | Yes |
| API forms | /v1/messages | /v1/messages |
| Time to first token, short prompts (median / p90) | 2.4 s / 9.4 s | 3.1 s / 9.3 s |
| Time to first token, large agent inputs (median) | 5.4 s | 4.0 s |
| Cache hit rate | 92.2% | 85.6% |
| Accounts in the sample | 400+ | 400+ |
When to use Claude Sonnet 5.5
- You want the first token sooner: on short prompts the median time to first token is 2.4 s for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and 3.1 s for Claude Haiku 5.5.
When to use Claude Haiku 5.5
- Budget matters or volume is high: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.08 input and $0.4 output per million tokens, against $0.3 and $1.5 for Claude Sonnet 5.5 — a 3.8× gap on output.
- You run agent tasks with long context: on large inputs the median time to first token is 4.0 s for Claude Haiku 5.5 and 5.4 s for Claude Sonnet 5.5.
Where the data comes from
- Prices, context window, max output and API forms come from the Wokey model catalog, the same data billing uses.
- Time to first token and cache hit rate come from real requests through Wokey over a 28-day window; models without enough samples show no figure.
- Cache hit rate and time to first token depend on the client, prompt length and usage pattern. The two models have different users, so this is not a controlled test on the same requests.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Haiku 5.5. On Wokey it costs $0.08 input and $0.4 output per million tokens; Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $0.3 and $1.5.
Which responds faster, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Haiku 5.5?
On real requests through Wokey, the median time to first token on short prompts is 2.4 s for Claude Sonnet 5.5 and 3.1 s for Claude Haiku 5.5. This is time to first token, not the speed of the full response.
Can I switch between Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Haiku 5.5?
Yes. Both use the same Wokey API key and base URL: change the model ID in the request between claude-sonnet-5-5 and claude-haiku-5-5, and each is billed at its own price.
Why is there no quality score here?
Wokey runs no benchmarks and gives no scores. This page holds only data we have ourselves: catalog prices and limits, and time to first token and cache hit rate measured on real requests. For quality, run your own task on both models.