We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12 • Hacker News Board

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#11

Post by freedomben » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 7:27 PM UTC

The opacity and unpredictability of Anthropic is really starting to become more than just an annoyance. I'm glad they're extending access, but the roller coaster is really starting to cause whiplash.

If they're eventually going to add Fable to the subscription plan, I wish they'd say something about that now, or at least confirm if they don't plan to for awhile. The feeling I get is they don't want to make any announcements because they are flying by the seat of their pants and want to see what their competition does first.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#12

Post by LoganDark » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

roncesvalles wrote: post #5

bathory wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, many people are hungry for GPT-5.6, considering it is supposed to be Fable class, with lower costs. Many Claude users were ready to jump ship.

Also consider that Fable launched on June 9. Many people including myself bought a 1-month Anthropic subscription just to use Fable. By extending it to July 12, they're gonna get a second month out of a lot of such people. If it really expired today, I wasn't going to renew my month.

I immediately downgraded my subscription as soon as they revoked access, then upgraded it again once Fable came back. So they're getting no extra month out of me unless they keep Fable available.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#13

Post by gck1 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

I have a really hard time understanding how anyone is ready to pay $200/mo to be put on such a rollercoaster all the time.

I've used fable, it's great. But nothing beats predictability - ever.

This truly feels like some form of emotional abuse/manipulation at this point.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#14

Post by winwang » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

gck1 wrote: post #13

I have a really hard time understanding how anyone is ready to pay $200/mo to be put on such a rollercoaster all the time . I've used fable, it's great. But nothing beats predictability - ever. This truly feels like some form of emotional abuse/manipulation at this point.

I would pay $200/mo for Opus 4.8 already. Fable 5 is just a cherry on top (although, without it, Codex 5.5 is the better buy imo).

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#15

Post by Computer0 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

Very expensive, not sure how it fits in with many companies seemingly trying to get employees using models at about Sonnet tier pricing. I certainly would never pay API rates for it, using ccusage I am seeing myself "use" $150-$400 worth of fable per day. (https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tesla-caps-employee-...)

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#16

Post by andai » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 8:34 PM UTC

Computer0 wrote: post #15

Very expensive, not sure how it fits in with many companies seemingly trying to get employees using models at about Sonnet tier pricing. I certainly would never pay API rates for it, using ccusage I am seeing myself "use" $150-$400 worth of fable per day. ( https://www.theinformation.com/articles/tesla-caps-employee-... )

That's funny. Sonnet is not great in my opinion. I mean, it often amazes me with its creativity, and I do prefer its style over most bigger models from other providers.

But it also constantly just does dumb things that make me slap my forehead. Opus is a lot better but the slap ratio has not reached 0 yet. Fable seems a bit better there, more testing needed.

But yeah, VC money ran out, now we wait for Moore's Law... :)

--

Re: Sonnet-ish-pricing. GLM-5.2 is cheaper than that, and appears to be "Opus-ish" in quality. I've been having a reasonably fine time with it. My experience is that it's "very solid for small and medium tasks", haven't tested it for anything bigger though.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#17

Post by dicey » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 8:41 PM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #9

Rather smart way to keep a bunch of subscriptions subscribed. I still feel a bit salty I got so much less out of the time I thought I was buying. And I stayed up late asking Fable for what giant leaps and potentials and architectural rewrites might benefit various side projects, so I kind of got what I wanted. But I'll probably keep one of my pro accounts, for just a bit more usage.

I half expected OpenAI to make GPT 5.6 available today, just to tempt people to switch over. Either way, I'm glad Fable is staying accessible, it's been fun.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#18

Post by hosel » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 8:51 PM UTC

gck1 wrote: post #13

I have a really hard time understanding how anyone is ready to pay $200/mo to be put on such a rollercoaster all the time . I've used fable, it's great. But nothing beats predictability - ever. This truly feels like some form of emotional abuse/manipulation at this point.

Oh gee $2000 worth of tokens from the best available model for $200 wonder how people shell out that kind of cash

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#19

Post by cromka » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 8:56 PM UTC

I think HN deserves a collective round of applause on this one: almost everyone here predicted this would happen.

Re: We're extending access to Fable 5 on all paid plans through July 12

#20

Post by fearmerchant » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 8:57 PM UTC

For coding Opus 4.8 with ultracode is near perfect and doesn't grind away as many tokens. Fable is advertised as 2x the tokens but in my experience it is closer to 5x what I burn with Opus 4.8.