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GitHub Copilot: Claude Sonnet 5.5 Now Generally Available

GitHub CopilotView original changelog

GitHub made Claude Sonnet 5.5, Anthropic's newest Sonnet model, generally available in GitHub Copilot. The model targets well-scoped everyday work such as building features and fixing bugs. In GitHub's early testing it matched Claude Sonnet 5 on coding tasks while using significantly fewer steps, tokens, and tool calls and finishing noticeably faster. It is available to Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise users across most Copilot surfaces and is billed at provider list pricing under usage-based billing.

Key Takeaways

  • Efficiency is the pitch: in GitHub's early testing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 matched Claude Sonnet 5 on coding tasks with significantly fewer steps, tokens, and tool calls.
  • Faster task completion was also reported, which matters most in long agent sessions where latency accumulates.
  • The model targets well-scoped everyday work like building features and fixing bugs rather than the hardest open-ended problems.
  • It is billed at provider list pricing under usage-based billing, so lower token use can translate directly into lower cost per task.
  • Availability is broad: Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise users can pick it in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Copilot CLI, the coding agent, the Copilot app, github.com, and GitHub Mobile.
  • The rollout is gradual, and Business and Enterprise admins can control access through the model policy, with new models enabled by default unless the global default is off.

A More Efficient Sonnet for Everyday Coding

GitHub announced that Claude Sonnet 5.5, Anthropic's newest Sonnet model, is now generally available in GitHub Copilot. The model is designed for well-scoped everyday development work, such as building features and fixing bugs, rather than the largest open-ended tasks.

The headline claim from GitHub's early testing is efficiency. Sonnet 5.5 matched Claude Sonnet 5 on coding tasks while using significantly fewer steps, tokens, and tool calls, and it also finished tasks noticeably faster. For developers running agent sessions, fewer steps and tool calls generally mean shorter waits and lower consumption per task.

Pricing

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is billed at provider list pricing under Copilot's usage-based billing. Because the model uses fewer tokens for comparable results, the efficiency gains GitHub describes can matter directly for cost. GitHub points to its Models and pricing reference in the Copilot billing documentation for exact rates.

Where It Is Available

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available to Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise users. It can be selected in the model picker in the following places:

  • Visual Studio Code
  • Visual Studio
  • Copilot CLI
  • GitHub Copilot coding agent
  • GitHub Copilot app
  • github.com
  • GitHub Mobile on iOS and Android
  • JetBrains IDEs
  • Xcode
  • Eclipse

The rollout is gradual, so some users may need to check back before the model appears in their picker.

Administrator Controls

Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise administrators can manage access to Claude Sonnet 5.5 through the model policy in Copilot settings. Under default model enablement, new models are turned on automatically unless an administrator has disabled the global default or explicitly disabled this model.

Feedback

GitHub invites users to share feedback in the GitHub Community's Copilot Conversations category.