Is GPT-5.6 actually out yet?

No. As of June 13, 2026, GPT-5.6 has not been publicly released. OpenAI's chief scientist Jakub Pachocki has described it as a 'meaningful improvement' over GPT-5.5, with leaks pointing to ~1.5M token context, better agentic coding, and aggressive API price cuts. Prediction markets put 80–89% probability on public release by June 30, 2026. Internal codenames include iris-alpha, ember-alpha, beacon-alpha, and kindle-alpha. OpenAI's official catalog still lists GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.5 Pro as frontier.

If I'm picking a model today, what should I use?

Claude Fable 5 for hard autonomous coding (SWE-Bench Pro 80.3%, long-horizon agent loops, multi-file refactors). GPT-5.5 for breadth — long-context retrieval at 1M tokens (MRCR v2 ~74%), ChatGPT 5M+ Codex users, Bedrock + Azure GA. Don't wait for GPT-5.6 unless you specifically need its expected 1.5M context or rumored UltraFast Codex mode — even then, expect a real production rollout to take 2–4 weeks after launch.

What's the price difference?

Claude Fable 5: $10 in / $50 out per million tokens, with a planned subscription paywall on June 22 (see related coverage). GPT-5.5: roughly $1.25 in / $10 out per million tokens for the Pro tier. GPT-5.6 is rumored to be priced aggressively below GPT-5.5 to win share — possibly in the $0.50–$1 input range. The economics: Fable 5 is 4–8x more expensive per token than GPT-5.5, but its first-shot success rate on hard coding tasks means the cost-per-successful-task gap is much smaller.

What about context window?

Claude Fable 5: 1M tokens. GPT-5.5: ~256K-400K context depending on deployment. GPT-5.6 (leaked): ~1.5M tokens, a 43% jump over GPT-5.5. Gemini 3.5 Pro: 2M (in preview as of June 2026). For massive-context retrieval (entire codebases, full document libraries), GPT-5.5 and Fable 5 are both capable; GPT-5.6 and Gemini 3.5 Pro push the ceiling further.

Quick Answer

GPT-5.6 vs GPT-5.5 vs Claude Fable 5: Which to Use Now

Published: June 13, 2026

GPT-5.6 vs GPT-5.5 vs Claude Fable 5: Which to Use Right Now

Three frontier models, three different bets, one decision you have to make this week. Claude Fable 5 launched June 9, 2026; GPT-5.5 hit Bedrock GA on June 11; GPT-5.6 is leaked for “any day now” June 2026. Here’s the honest comparison if you’re picking a model for production today.

Last verified: June 13, 2026

TL;DR

Workload	Pick
Hard agentic coding, long autonomous loops	Claude Fable 5 (SWE-Bench Pro 80.3%)
General-purpose ChatGPT / production chat	GPT-5.5 (mature, available everywhere)
Long-context retrieval (1M tokens)	GPT-5.5 (MRCR v2 ~74%) or Fable 5
Massive context (1.5M+)	Wait for GPT-5.6 or use Gemini 3.5 Pro
Cost-sensitive bulk inference	GPT-5.5 today, GPT-5.6 when it ships
Multimodal vision + reasoning	GPT-5.5 (best multimodal eval today)

Where each model stands today

Claude Fable 5

Released: June 9, 2026.
Provider: Anthropic; available via Claude API, Claude Platform on AWS, Amazon Bedrock, Vertex AI, Microsoft Foundry, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf.
Strengths: Best agentic coding tool by benchmark. SWE-Bench Pro 80.3%, Terminal-Bench 2.1 leader.
Pricing: $10 input / $50 output per 1M tokens. Paywall on subscription plans starts June 22, 2026 — see Claude Fable 5 paywall June 22.
Context window: 1M tokens.
Caveat: Subject to safety classifiers that route sensitive queries to Opus 4.8; Mythos 5 is the unclassified twin available only to vetted Project Glasswing partners.

GPT-5.5

General availability: Mature; on Bedrock GA as of June 11, 2026.
Strengths: Breadth — 5M+ Codex weekly users; ChatGPT consumer product depth; multimodal vision strong; long-context retrieval at 1M tokens with MRCR v2 ~74%.
Pricing: $1.25 in / $10 out per 1M tokens (Pro tier; varies by deployment).
Context: 256K–400K, with extended-context variants reaching ~1M.
Caveat: Lags Claude Fable 5 on SWE-Bench Pro by ~22 points.

GPT-5.6 (leaked)

Status: Not released as of June 13, 2026. Prediction markets ~80–89% probability of release by June 30.
Leaked features: ~1.5M token context, better agentic coding, rumored UltraFast Codex mode, aggressive API price cuts.
Codenames: iris-alpha, ember-alpha, beacon-alpha, kindle-alpha.
Strategic intent: Close the SWE-Bench Pro gap to Claude Fable 5 and undercut on price.

See GPT-5.6 leaked features for full breakdown.

Side-by-side

	Claude Fable 5	GPT-5.5	GPT-5.6 (leaked)
Release status	GA (June 9, 2026)	GA, Bedrock GA June 11	Not released; expected by Jun 30
SWE-Bench Pro	80.3%	58.6%	TBD (rumored close to Fable 5)
Terminal-Bench 2.1	Leader	Strong	TBD
MRCR v2 long-context	Strong	~74%	Expected higher
Context window	1M	256K–1M	~1.5M (leaked)
Input price (per 1M tok)	$10	$1.25	Rumored ~$0.50–1
Output price (per 1M tok)	$50	$10	TBD
ChatGPT integration	No	Yes (default)	Yes (will become default)
Multimodal vision	Strong	Best	Expected improved
Codex / agent ecosystem	Claude Code, Cowork	Codex CLI, Codex Cloud (post-Ona)	Codex Cloud (Ona) integration
Subscription paywall	June 22, 2026 (Claude Pro/Max)	None	None

When each one wins

Pick Claude Fable 5 today when:

You’re running hard autonomous coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor + Fable 5, Windsurf agent runs).
You’re doing multi-file refactors, framework migrations, test suite rewrites — work where the SWE-Bench Pro lead translates into real fewer-retries success.
You need 1M context for whole-codebase reasoning.
You can afford the $10/$50 token rate or you’re inside the included Pro/Max bucket until June 22.

Pick GPT-5.5 today when:

You’re shipping a ChatGPT-style product where consumer recognition matters.
You need multimodal vision (image inputs in production).
You’re cost-sensitive on bulk inference (4–8x cheaper than Fable 5).
You’re on Bedrock or Azure and want first-party support, not third-party model integration.
You build Codex agents — Codex Cloud powered by Ona (post-acquisition) is now the path. See OpenAI acquires Ona.

Wait for GPT-5.6 when:

You specifically need 1.5M+ context and Gemini 3.5 Pro isn’t an option.
You’re at the planning stage with a launch 4–6 weeks out and can afford to wait.
Your business is price-sensitive — GPT-5.6 is rumored to undercut significantly.

Don’t wait for GPT-5.6 if you have production work to ship this month. The rumored release window slips often; even after public release, broad GA on Azure and Bedrock typically takes 2–4 weeks; production-grade tools (Codex CLI, Cursor) take another 2–4 weeks to fully support the new model.

Cost-per-successful-task (estimated)

For a “refactor a 50K-LOC repo” task using ~200K input + 20K output tokens:

Model	Input cost	Output cost	Success rate	Cost per success
Claude Fable 5	$2.00	$1.00	80.3%	$3.74
GPT-5.5	$0.25	$0.20	58.6%	$0.77
GPT-5.6 (leaked)	~$0.15	~$0.10	Rumored ~75%	~$0.33

GPT-5.5 wins raw cost-per-success today. Fable 5 wins absolute quality. If GPT-5.6 ships near its rumored specs, it becomes the new cost-quality leader — which is exactly the strategic intent.

What this means for the model wars

Anthropic owns “best at hard coding.” The SWE-Bench Pro 80.3% number is the marketing line and the technical lead. June 22 paywall is a capacity move, not a quality retreat.
OpenAI is racing to close the gap with price + ecosystem. GPT-5.6 + Codex Cloud (Ona) is the counter-move.
Microsoft is hedging both ways. Internal engineers move to Copilot CLI (GPT-based) — see Microsoft drops Claude Code — while Azure ships Claude Fable 5 to paying customers.
Google’s window is closing. Gemini 3.5 Pro’s 2M context is interesting but launches into a market already redivided by Fable 5 + GPT-5.6.

Bottom line

Ship today with Claude Fable 5 if quality on hard agentic coding matters; ship today with GPT-5.5 if breadth, multimodal, and predictable cost matter; wait for GPT-5.6 only if your launch is 4+ weeks out and 1.5M context is non-negotiable. The fastest mistake to make is to wait for GPT-5.6 and miss a month of shipping in the meantime.

Sources: Anthropic Fable 5 launch (June 9, 2026), OpenAI release notes, AndroidHeadlines / Android Authority / CometAPI on GPT-5.6 leaks (June 2026), InfoQ on GPT-5.5 Bedrock GA (June 11, 2026), Simon Willison, CloudZero, Finout pricing analyses (June 2026).