AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

REBeam 1.0 501B A23B Open vs Claude Fable 5 Paid

Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Claude Fable 5 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

REBeam 1.0 501B A23BOpenReflection
$0.25 /M input
$1 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostYes
Claude Fable 5PaidAnthropic
$10 /M input
$50 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Beam 1.0 501B A23B if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Fable 5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Claude Fable 5 specs

SpecBeam 1.0 501B A23BClaude Fable 5Winner
MakerReflectionAnthropic–
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryREBeam 1.0 501B A23B
Context window1M tokens1M tokensREBeam 1.0 501B A23B
Input price$0.25/M · free self-host$10/MREBeam 1.0 501B A23B
Output price$1/M · free self-host$50/MREBeam 1.0 501B A23B
Vision / multimodalNoYesClaude Fable 5
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)REBeam 1.0 501B A23B
LicenseOpen weightsProprietaryREBeam 1.0 501B A23B

Price gap & when to choose each

50×cheaper per output token

Beam 1.0 501B A23B is ~50× cheaper than Claude Fable 5 on output tokens ($1 vs $50 per M tokens).

REChoose Beam 1.0 501B A23B if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You need the longer 1M context window
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You want the lowest operating costs
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
Choose Claude Fable 5 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityBeam 1.0 501B A23BClaude Fable 5
Open weights (downloadable)✓✗
Self-hostable✓✗
Runs fully offline✓✗
Vision / multimodal✗✓
Tool / function calling✓✓
1M+ context window✓✓

Benchmarks: Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Claude Fable 5

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Beam 1.0 501B A23B delivers 20× more intelligence per dollar.
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Claude Fable 5
Intelligence index
30.3
49.6
Humanity's Last Exam
34.7%
55.5%
Long Context Reasoning
78%
82.3%
SciCode
48.5%
61%
Coding index
–
76.5
GPQA
–
92.6%
IFBench
–
63.5%
τ²-Bench
–
98.5%
τ-Bench Banking
–
38.1%
Terminal-Bench
–
84.6%
Terminal-Bench Hard
–
62.9%
Speed
391.1 tok/s
0 tok/s
Latency
0.5s
0s
Intelligence per $
50.5
2.5

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Beam 1.0 501B A23B and Claude Fable 5 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Beam 1.0 501B A23B (4.6 vs 2.9 / 5)
CriterionBeam 1.0 501B A23BClaude Fable 5
Cost-efficiency4.52.0
Context window5.05.0
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality3.55.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Beam 1.0 501B A23B Open

Reflection · Open-weight

Beam 1.0 is Reflection's open-weight reasoning model for coding and long-horizon agentic workflows. It uses a sparse mixture-of-experts architecture with 501B total and 23B active parameters per token, and a...

Claude Fable 5 Paid

Anthropic · Proprietary

Claude Fable 5 is a Mythos-class model from Anthropic, built for autonomous knowledge work and coding. It supports text, image, and file inputs with text output, with reasoning support and...

Frequently asked questions

Is Beam 1.0 501B A23B as good as Claude Fable 5?

Beam 1.0 501B A23B is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Claude Fable 5 may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run Beam 1.0 501B A23B locally?

Yes. Beam 1.0 501B A23B has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Claude Fable 5 is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

How much cheaper is Beam 1.0 501B A23B?

Beam 1.0 501B A23B costs $1/M output vs $50/M for Claude Fable 5 — roughly 50x cheaper via API, and free if you self-host.

Beam 1.0 501B A23B vs Claude Fable 5 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Beam 1.0 501B A23B if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Claude Fable 5 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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