Model comparison

Claude Opus 4.8 vs Fugu Ultra v2

Pricing, context window and real answers (September 2026)

Claude Opus 4.8 (Anthropic) and Fugu Ultra v2 (Sakana AI), compared as you can actually call them on FastMetal. Both are served from the same OpenAI-compatible endpoint and API key; switching is a change to the model string.

Specs and pricing

anthropic logoClaude Opus 4.8Fugu Ultra v2
ProviderAnthropicSakana AI
Input (per 1M tokens)¥893.5¥893.5
Output (per 1M tokens)¥4,467.5¥5,361
Typical cost (1,000 in + 500 out tokens × 1,000 calls)¥3,127¥3,574
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Release date5/27/20269/11/2026
Input modalitiestext, image, filetext, image, file
Throughput (p50)
Arena · overall#35 · ELO 1,473Unranked
Arena · Japanese#27 · ELO 1,454Unranked
Arena · coding#15 · ELO 1,530Unranked

Prices are FastMetal's yen rates before tax. Arena ranks are as of the latest leaderboard scrape.

Which should you pick?

  • On price, Claude Opus 4.8: ¥4,467.5 per 1M output tokens, 17% less than Fugu Ultra v2.
  • If in doubt, try both on the same key. Switching is a change to the model string, and each is billed at its own rate.

Real answers to the same prompts

Exactly what the FastMetal gateway returned, side by side. Not benchmark scores: actual output.

Count the number of 'r's in 'strawberry'

Count the number of 'r's in 'strawberry'. Explain your reasoning step by step.

Claude Opus 4.8

# Counting 'r's in "strawberry" ## Step-by-step process: Let me go through each letter one at a time: | Position | Letter | Is it 'r'? | |----------|--------|-----------| | 1 | s | No | | 2 | t | No | | 3 | r | ✓ Yes (1) | | 4 | a | No | | 5 | w | No | | 6 | b | No | | 7 | e | No | | 8 | r | ✓ Yes (2) | | 9 | r | ✓ Yes (3) | | 10 | y | No | ## Answer: There are **3** 'r's in "strawberry". The three 'r's appear at positions 3, 8, and 9 — one after the "st" and two together in the "rry" ending.
4.5s262 output tokens

Fugu Ultra v2

**Answer: 3** **Step-by-step reasoning:** 1. **Write out the word letter by letter**, assigning each a position: | Position | Letter | Is it 'r'? | |---|---|---| | 1 | s | no | | 2 | t | no | | 3 | **r** | ✅ yes | | 4 | a | no | | 5 | w | no | | 6 | b | no | | 7 | e | no | | 8 | **r** | ✅ yes | | 9 | **r** | ✅ yes | | 10 | y | no | 2. **Tally the matches:** positions 3, 8, and 9 are 'r'. 3. **Sanity check by chunks:** "straw" contains one 'r' (str**a**w → the r in "str"), and "berry" contains two 'r's (be**rr**y). 1 + 2 = 3. 4. **Verify length:** the letters counted total 10, which matches the length of "strawberry" — so no letter was skipped or double-counted. **Conclusion:** There a…
10.2s435 output tokens

Debug This Error

I'm getting the following error in my Node.js application: TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'map') at UserList (/app/components/UserList.js:12:25) at renderWithHooks (/app/node_modules/rea…

Claude Opus 4.8

# What's Causing the Error The error tells you exactly what's happening: ``` TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'map') at UserList (/app/components/UserList.js:12:25) ``` At the moment `UserList` renders, the `users` prop is `undefined`, and you can't call `.map()` on `undefined`. This is extremely common when data is fetched asynchronously—the component renders **before** the data arrives. Common reasons `users` is undefined: - The parent hasn't passed the `users` prop at all - Data is still loading from an API (initial state is `undefined`) - The API response shape differs from what you expect (e.g. `data.users` vs `data`) --- # How to Fix It ## Option 1: De…
11.3s761 output tokens

Fugu Ultra v2

## What the error means `TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'map')` means that when `UserList` rendered, `users` was `undefined`, and JavaScript can't read the `.map` property off `undefined`. The important detail: **the bug isn't really in `UserList`** — that's just where it surfaces. Destructuring `function UserList({ users })` does *not* throw when the prop is missing; it silently gives you `undefined`. The crash is deferred to the first property access, which is `.map` on line 12. So the real question is: why is `props.users` not an array? ## Why `users` is undefined **1. Async data hasn't arrived yet — by far the most common cause.** ```jsx const [users, setUs…
70.8s5286 output tokens

Code Review

Please review the following Python function and suggest improvements for readability, performance, and best practices: def get_data(url, retries=3): import requests import time for i in range(retries):…

Claude Opus 4.8

# Code Review Here's a breakdown of issues and suggested improvements for your function. ## Key Issues 1. **Imports inside the function** — should be at module level (runs on every call, harder to see dependencies). 2. **Bare `except:`** — catches everything, including `KeyboardInterrupt` and `SystemExit`. Silently swallowing errors makes debugging hard. 3. **Magic numbers** — `10`, `2`, `200` scattered around; extract as parameters/constants. 4. **`== True` comparison** — non-Pythonic; use the value directly (or `is True` if strict). 5. **Blocking `time.sleep(2)`** — fixed delay; exponential backoff is a better practice. 6. **`r.status_code == 200`** — misses other success codes; use `ra…
16.9s1403 output tokens

Fugu Ultra v2

# Final Code Review: `get_data` The function is compact and its intent is clear, but as written it will **fail silently in production**. Two defects dominate everything else: 1. The bare `except:` swallows every error — including `KeyboardInterrupt` and genuine logic bugs. 2. A total failure and a legitimately empty dataset both return `[]`, so callers cannot tell "the service is down" from "there are no active records." Together these mean an outage looks exactly like a successful empty response. Everything else below is meaningful improvement; those two are the difference between code that fails loudly and code that fails invisibly. --- ## 1. Correctness and error handling ### 1.1 `e…
281.1s23317 output tokens

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Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.8 or Fugu Ultra v2?
Per 1M output tokens, Claude Opus 4.8 is ¥4,467.5 and Fugu Ultra v2 is ¥5,361 on FastMetal (yen, before tax), so Claude Opus 4.8 is cheaper.
How do the context windows of Claude Opus 4.8 and Fugu Ultra v2 compare?
Claude Opus 4.8 takes 1,000,000 tokens; Fugu Ultra v2 takes 1,000,000.
Can I use Claude Opus 4.8 and Fugu Ultra v2 with the same API key?
Yes. On FastMetal's OpenAI-compatible endpoint, switch by passing "anthropic-claude-opus-4-8" or "fugu-ultra-v2" as the model. Each is billed at its own rate from the same prepaid balance.

Try both on one API key

Create an account and add credit to call Claude Opus 4.8 and Fugu Ultra v2 from the browser chat and the API. No monthly fee.

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