# Claude Fable 5.1 vs Step 3.5 Flash

As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 leads Step 3.5 Flash in 4 of 4 shared categories: General LLM, Reasoning, Long context, and Factuality.

Claude Fable 5.1: $20 per 1M blended tokens.

Step 3.5 Flash: $0.15 per 1M blended tokens.

Claude Fable 5.1: closed weights.

Step 3.5 Flash: open weights.

- Which to pick, General LLM: As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 leads Step 3.5 Flash in General LLM at #6 against #123.
- Which to pick, Reasoning: As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 leads Step 3.5 Flash in Reasoning at #5 against #124.
- Which to pick, Long context: As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 leads Step 3.5 Flash in Long context at #6 against #119.
- Which to pick, Factuality: As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 leads Step 3.5 Flash in Factuality at #1 against #99.

As of Oct 14, 2026, Claude Fable 5.1 is tied for state of the art in Factuality (since Oct 2, 2026; sources LMArena Text factuality; methodology v1.0).

As of Oct 14, 2026, Step 3.5 Flash is ranked #99 in Factuality (since Oct 14, 2026; sources LMArena Text factuality; methodology v1.0).