BREAKING: Sonnet 5.5 Is FREE — And It Beat Opus 5.5 in My Tests

Author: Hyperautomation Labs · Watch on YouTube

Video authored by the channel shown, not by IANIA; all rights belong to the creator. Transcript and summary generated automatically; the original-language content is preserved.

Original language: English

Original video: BREAKING: Sonnet 5.5 Is FREE — And It Beat Opus 5.5 in My Tests · Channel: Hyperautomation Labs · 08:32 · Watch on YouTube

Topics: AI evaluation and benchmarks, Claude Code, Model inference and optimization, AI models

Summary

The presenter compares Sonnet 5.5 with Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5, and GPT6 Soul across seven practical jobs, reporting that Sonnet 5.5 matched the top models on the graded tasks while completing work faster and for less money at medium effort. In the presenter’s tests, it completed a full pass for 67 cents in 2 minutes and 13 seconds, compared with Opus 5.5 at $1.94 and 5 minutes 24 seconds. The video also discusses pricing, benchmark results, API changes, and a high-effort setting that can make Sonnet 5.5 more expensive than Opus. The recommendation is to use Sonnet 5.5 on medium for everyday tasks, Opus 5.5 for difficult work requiring judgment, and GPT6 Soul when lowest cost matters more than speed.

Key points

The presenter says Sonnet 5.5 is the default model on a free Claude account at medium effort; Opus 5.5 requires an upgrade.
The stated API price for Sonnet 5.5 is $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with a 1 million token context window.
On seven practical jobs, Sonnet 5.5 and Opus 5.5 each received 18 out of 18; GPT6 Soul received 12 out of 12, and Sonnet 5 missed one customer-email requirement.
For a full pass through six graded jobs, Sonnet 5.5 cost 67 cents and took 2 minutes 13 seconds; Opus 5.5 cost $1.94 and took 5 minutes 24 seconds.
In the accounts-payable audit, all tested models found the three planted billing errors in every round without false alarms.
The presenter reports that Sonnet 5.5 was 61% cheaper than Sonnet 5 on the tested jobs and completed the full suite 72% faster, attributing the speed advantage to fewer steps.
GPT6 Soul was the cheapest in the presenter’s full-pass comparison at 57 cents, but took almost three times as long as Sonnet 5.5.
At maximum effort, Sonnet 5.5 can cost more than Opus 5.5; the presenter recommends medium effort for everyday work and Opus for long, difficult jobs requiring judgment.
The video notes that security-related chats may switch from Sonnet 5.5 to Sonnet 5, and mentions API changes involving thinking, forced tool calls, and custom temperature settings.

Chapters

Start	Chapter	Summary
00:00	Sonnet 5.5: speed, price, and product details	The presenter introduces the comparison, describes Sonnet 5.5’s availability and pricing, and reviews selected benchmark results.
02:35	Seven-job comparison and results	The presenter outlines the practical tests and reports the models’ pass counts, costs, completion times, and audit results.
05:19	Cost, speed, and the maximum-effort caveat	The presenter compares the suite’s cost and timing results, including GPT6 Soul, then warns that high effort can make Sonnet 5.5 more expensive than Opus.
07:30	Usage notes and closing recommendations	The presenter discusses security-related model switching and API changes, gives a final recommendation, and closes with channel information.

Quotes

So quality is a tie at the top. The difference is time and money. — 03:09

Sonnet 5.5 never opened its page at all. It still passed every check. — 04:12

The bigger speed win is somewhere else. It finished the whole suite 72% faster because it simply takes fewer steps. — 05:19

Emails, documents, spreadsheets, bug fixes, use Sonnet 5.5 on Medium. — 06:57

Free, fast, and opus quality on medium. Just don’t touch Max. — 08:32

Concepts and entities

Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5, GPT-6 Soul, Anthropic, Claude Code, Codex, Artificial Analysis, effort, context window

Full transcript (original language)

00:00 Clothes on it 5.5 is free and in my tests it beat Opus 5.5. Same correct answers on every job for about a third of the price in less than half the time. This is Antropic’s own race. Same prompt 400 starings. Sonnet 5.5 is flying at 28 seconds. Sonnet 5 needs 42. A clock made of 24 clocks, 28 seconds

00:32 against 50, and windshaping sand dunes 19 against 27. By the end of this video, you’ll know when Sonnet 5.5 is the best deal in AI and the one setting that makes it cost more than Opus. I ran it against OPUS 5.5, Sonnet 5, and OpenAI’s GPT6 Soul on seven real jobs graded by a script. Here is what shipped today. I opened a free claude account this

01:02 afternoon. The default model is now Sonnet 5.5 on medium effort. Opus 5.5 and Fable both say upgrade. On the API, it’s $2 in and $10 out per million tokens. That’s the same price as Sonnet 5, half the price of Opus 5.5 and exactly the same price as GPT6 Soul. You get a 1 million token context window. And Antropic makes two promises over 30%

01:33 faster than Sonnet 5 and up to 30% cheaper per task. Now, Antropic’s own table. On agentic coding in the terminal, Sonnet 5.5 scores 70.6. 6 OPUS 5.5 scores 66.4 on real office work it’s 1844 against 1846 basically a tie GPT6 soul is at 1487 but Opus still wins the hardest coding

02:05 tests 54.4 against 46.2 on Frontier Code and 57.8 8 against 55.5 on cursor bench. And one footnote to know, Sonnet 5 scored 10.3 on that terminal test. It basically couldn’t do it. So, ignore anyone quoting a seven times jump. If this video is useful, hit subscribe because it’s free. And to back the work, hit join here or the supporter button on Facebook. Now, the test. Seven jobs. Fix

02:35 the bugs in an invoice calculator. Write a salon’s chair report where the usual script hides an off by one mistake. Answer an angry customer email. Clean a messy sales export down to exact totals. Audit a 48page accounts payable pack with three planted billing errors. Build a web page of 400 stings at dusk and a speed test. Every Claude model ran on its default effort, three rounds each in claude code. GPT6 Soul ran in OpenAI’s

03:09 own codeex tool. Two rounds each because my API credit ran out. A script grades every answer. Pass or fail. Here’s the board. Sonnet 5.5 18 out of 18. Opus 5.5 18 out of 18. GPT 6. Soul 12 out of 12. Sonnet 5 missed one. a customer email with no refund reference. So quality is a tie at the top. The difference is time and money.

03:41 One full pass through all six graded jobs. Sonnet 5.5 67 cents and 2 minutes and 13 seconds. Opus 5.5 $1 94 and 5 minutes 24. Sonnet 5, $174 and almost 8 minutes. That’s Opus quality for about a third of the price. The bird flock job shows why. Sonnet 5.5 read the brief, wrote the file, and was

04:12 done. 45 seconds, two tool calls, 13 cents. Sonnet 5 took over 3 minutes and 19 tool calls for 62 cents. Opus 5.5 took 3 minutes and 73 cents. And here’s the part I didn’t expect. Opus and Sonnet 5 took screenshots of their own page and kept checking it. Sonnet 5.5 never opened its page at all. It still passed every check. Here are all four side by side. The audit is the job most

04:44 businesses would actually pay for. 48 pages of contracts, purchase orders, and invoices with three billing errors hidden inside. Every model found all three in every round with zero false alarms. So again the difference is the bill set 5.5 45 seconds 31 cents opus 5.5 67 seconds 68 cents sonnet 5 over 2 minutes and GPT6 sold 66 seconds and 16.

05:19 So, Antropics claims up to 30% cheaper per task. On our jobs, it was 61% cheaper than Sonnet 5. Confirmed. And then some fewer tool calls 22 against 55. Confirmed. 30% faster output. We measured 23%. Close but not quite. The bigger speed win is somewhere else. It finished the whole suite 72% faster because it simply takes fewer steps. Now GPT6 soul, same

05:54 list price as Sonnet 5.5. And on our jobs, it was the cheapest, 57 cents for the full pass against 67, but it took 6 1/2 minutes, almost three times longer. Part of that could be the different tool it runs in. So if every cent matters and you can wait, soul is a real option. If you want the answer now, sonnet 5.5. And here’s the trap. All of that was on the default effort medium.

06:24 Now look at artificial analysis, the independent benchmark site. At max effort, sonnet 5.5 costs $760 per task. That’s more than opus 5.5 at 598. seven times GPT6 soul because at max it writes about 193,000 tokens per task. Even the free app warns you. Next to max it says five times or more usage and it’s not even worth it. Opus 5.5 on high

06:57 scores higher than Sonnet on extra for less money. So here’s my rule for everyday work. Emails, documents, spreadsheets, bug fixes, use Sonnet 5.5 on Medium. It’s free and it’s the best deal I’ve tested. For long hard jobs that need judgment, use Opus 5.5. And if you ever feel the urge to push Sonnet to extra or max, don’t switch to Opus instead. If you need the cheapest possible cost per task and you’re not in a hurry, GPT6 sold. Two things to watch.

07:30 If you ask about hacking or security, Sonnet 5.5 may hand your chat to Sonnet 5 and the app tells you it’s switched. You can turn that off in settings, then capabilities. And if you build on the API, thinking can’t be switched off anymore, force tool calls return an error and custom temperature settings are rejected. The model name is Claude Sonnet. Five. Real talk, 90% of you watching haven’t

08:00 subscribed. On Facebook, subscribe is the supporter button. That is what keeps the lights on here. On YouTube, it’s free and it tells the algorithm to send you more. Subscribe to support us. Everything is in the Sonnet 5.5 card. The full test results, the effort rule, which model to use for which job, and the API changes. Just comment the word sonnet 55 and my boat sends it to you free. New to claude code? My beginner

08:32 guides are linked below. To support this channel directly, there’s a join button right under this video or the supporter button on Facebook and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for byte-size AI while the deep dives live here on YouTube. Free, fast, and opus quality on medium. Just don’t touch Max. See you in the next one.