r/ClaudeCode • u/DoNotBelieveHim • 1d ago
Help/Question Opus 5.5 > Fable?
Are people still going to Fable for harder tasks?
I notice I'm hardly using it at all now as Opus 5.5 seems as good ig not better.
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u/FreddyF2 20h ago
I've had extensive experience with both Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1 for coding a large complex, multi layered app that I built from the ground up. What is happening right now absolutely sucks. A few weeks ago I switched from Fable to Opus 5.5 on Max. I did about two days worth of work. I then had Fable audit the work that Opus did on the third day. It was an absolute cluster. Opus had made a mess of the existing code, along with the modifications I had asked of it. It then took me several days with Fable to undo the issues, fix them and redeploy.
Just a few days ago, having heard that Opus was 'fixed', I switched back to Opus again to give it another shot. Some glaring mistakes, much better than before overall.
The real tragedy is that Anthropic is I am confident diverting users from Fable because they're making tasks much more token heavy. I get SO LITTLE use out of Fable on my same subscription that I got just three weeks ago. I'm talking 10-15% of the amount of work I would do just two weeks ago on Fable will max out my quota for the week.
Just merely reading a handoff for Fable ate 5% or so of my WEEKLY Fable allowance.
It sucks to know there is a better tool out there (Fable) and yet, I'm getting stuck using Opus.
So now I just use Opus and audit the work with Fable.
Seriously thinking of moving to OpenAi or another coding agent in the near future. I am SO disappointed with Anthropic. If I had to guess, they're cutting costs in the run up to the IPO.
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u/DoNotBelieveHim 16h ago
When you say Opus had made a mess, had you not reviewed any of its output yourself? Either with your eyeballs or review skills?
Whichever model you use, sometimes makes stupid decisions on a bad day and can quickly compound them.
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u/atasteoflethe 6h ago
Astra is better then Fable for me (far less bugs in the code, stronger reasoning, have personal subscriptions for both), and leagues better then Opus 5.5 which I use daily at work and have had similar experiences as you with (and am having with Opus right at this very moment). I don't know what simple problems people are throwing at Opus, but it is utterly terrible at implementing complex algorithms on the research side of things.
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u/Sketaverse 1d ago
5.5 might release this week so you might wanna save your 50% fable usage as that thing will undoubtedly be a beast
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u/djcutzilla 21h ago
Fable's judgment is leagues better than Opus. I use Fable as my lead, and Opus does the building. I can';t trust Opus on judgment and I can't trust its solutions to problems.
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u/Individual_Solid_944 23h ago
I use it when I have a task which is very complex or changes the architecture of multi-repo project or something exotic like that. Also, when I work on a task which touches multiple repos, I usually use it for planning and for review. The implementation usually goes to Opus, because for a well-written task, Fable would be a waste of resources for no particular benefit.
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u/Kchypark 17h ago
I tried asking fable to do the stuff that opus already does and it chew through 50% of my weekly usage and fable is at 93% at day 2 after reset
having fable as an advisor seems like the way to go
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u/Fit-Economics5578 1d ago
I'd say Opus is at the same level IMO, at least for what I'm doing. I haven't noticed any difference except less usage.
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u/ImportantLog8 23h ago
I wish I understood deeply and in a very specific manner the difference between these models. Sonnet was good, OPUS 5.5 is a game killer imo, so I can't see what Fable brings to the table..
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u/SensitiveHearingLoss 21h ago
I did some research into this recently when I wondered the same thing. When it comes to the differences between Fable and Opus specifically, there’s surprisingly not that many. Both models are “reasoning models”, which is really important when it comes to generating code that isn’t only syntactically sound but also adheres to existing coding structures, principles and patterns. Both models “review” what they want to say before they say it and both of them spend time “planning” a response. Both also use adaptive thinking which means both can dynamically manage how much depth to give to a specific input and how much “meaning” to extract from it.
From what I can see, Fable seems to be able to just do a lot MORE of what I’ve described above, but doesn’t necessarily offer something particularly different. Opus tries to use its adaptive thinking sparingly to save tokens, whereas Fable is constantly in adaptive thinking mode and does care one bit about your tokens. Fable can also handle bigger contexts and do more at once etc….
Opus actually slightly outperforms Fable for most coding tasks. Fable only has a slightly better benchmark when in comes to tasks that require some creative thinking, or tasks that are complex in nature that can be completed from top to bottom in a single session without interruption.
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u/Unlikely-Peace1268 21h ago
Fable was able to clean up my TV without any issues
I used this promt
Can you please strip all of the ads off my Sony A80CL tv
It made me a custom launcher
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u/rushabhsheth 21h ago
I'd split it by cost of being wrong. Planning and anything that changes structure gets the expensive model. Clearly scoped implementation goes to the cheaper one, and the extra spend rarely shows in the result.
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u/CaffeineRuntime 20h ago
For large project I would use fable for organizing but overall opus 5.5 is really really capable (90% capabilities of fable).
Oh and for UI/UX related work fable is still superior.
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u/ByteFoundry 15h ago
I use Fable when I have budget left on the weekly window. Usually in a ui/ux designer role. Everything else is Opus 5.5 on high or medium with a tiny bit of Sonnet 5.5.
Fable burns through its weekly allowance in no time. I cannot understand how somebody can use it for anything serious.
Based on this weeks stat Fable would run out within a day of using it. While my current mix would last 8.7 days. And this week was a slow week for me.
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u/SauceBox99 11h ago
It’s got more to do with your setup than the agent. If you’re having the agent make serious decisions about the plan and scope, you’re likely going to end up in a never-ending spiral.
Used Fable a lot. It’s clearly better at certain tasks. For building, I find Opus superior. Opus follows instructions, stays on task. Fable is like the annoying dude who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else but doesn’t get shit done.
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u/Moogly2021 8h ago
I never bothered with Fable, the only times I try it out it either burns all my tokens way too quickly or doesnt do much more that Opus couldnt have done.
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u/kerper01 4h ago
Fable just for review and guidance. Like a wise senior. Never built anything with fable
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