Lifecycle definitions
The official lifecycle terms are operational, not marketing labels. Active models are supported and recommended. Legacy models no longer receive updates and may be deprecated later. Deprecated models still function but are no longer recommended and receive a retirement date. Retired models are unavailable, so API requests to those IDs fail.
The docs also warn that partner-operated platforms can have different schedules. The ledger below is for Anthropic-operated platforms unless a source says otherwise.
Deprecation ledger
| Announced | Retirement | Model IDs | Replacement guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-05 | 2026-08-05 | claude-opus-4-1-20250805 | claude-opus-4-8 |
| 2026-04-14 | 2026-06-15 | claude-sonnet-4-20250514claude-opus-4-20250514 | claude-sonnet-4-6 / claude-opus-4-8 |
| 2026-02-19 | 2026-04-20 | claude-3-haiku-20240307 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 |
| 2025-12-19 | 2026-02-19 | claude-3-5-haiku-20241022 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 |
| 2025-10-28 | 2026-02-19 | claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219 | claude-sonnet-4-6 |
| 2025-08-13 | 2025-10-28 | claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 | claude-sonnet-4-6 |
| 2025-06-30 | 2026-01-05 | claude-3-opus-20240229 | claude-opus-4-8 |
| 2025-01-21 | 2025-07-21 | claude-2.0claude-2.1claude-3-sonnet-20240229 | claude-opus-4-8 / claude-sonnet-4-6 |
| 2024-09-04 | 2024-11-06 | claude-1.0claude-1.1claude-1.2claude-1.3claude-instant-1.0claude-instant-1.1claude-instant-1.2 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 |
Earliest retirement dates for active models
Anthropic publishes a "not sooner than" floor for active models rather than a firm retirement date. These are commitments about the earliest possible retirement, not announcements, and they move as new models land. The floors below were read on September 19, 2026.
| Model | Launched | Retirement not sooner than |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Fable 5.1 | 2026-09-01 | 2027-09-01 |
| Claude Opus 5 | 2026-07-24 | 2027-07-24 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | 2026-06-30 | 2027-06-30 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2025-10-15 | 2026-10-15 |
Claude Haiku 4.5 has the nearest floor of the four. A floor passing does not retire a model; a deprecation notice does, and the docs promise at least 60 days of notice for publicly released models.
Developer impact
The most common failure mode is a hard-coded model ID that outlives its retirement date. A system can pass tests for months, then fail when a scheduled retirement arrives. That is why the deprecation docs recommend auditing usage, testing replacements ahead of the deadline, and moving before retirement rather than waiting for a failed request.
The migration map turns this ledger into practical upgrade paths, but this page remains the source of truth for dates and model IDs.
Preservation note
The deprecation docs also acknowledge archival downsides: researchers can lose access to models used in comparative studies, and people who value a specific model must migrate. That makes source preservation important even when the model itself is gone.
Claude Archive preserves the public record, not model weights or live access.
Questions this page answers
What does retired mean for a Claude model?
In the Claude Platform docs, retired means the model is no longer available and requests to that model fail.
When did Claude 1 and Claude Instant retire?
The official deprecation page records November 6, 2024 as the retirement date for Claude 1 and Instant model IDs.
When did Claude 2 retire?
Claude 2.0 and Claude 2.1 retired on July 21, 2025 on Anthropic-operated platforms.
Has Claude Opus 4.1 retired?
Yes. Opus 4.1 was deprecated on June 5, 2026 and retired on August 5, 2026. Requests to claude-opus-4-1-20250805 fail on Anthropic-operated platforms.
Are Claude Opus 5 or Claude Fable 5.1 deprecated?
No. As of September 19, 2026 both are active, with published retirement floors of not sooner than July 24, 2027 for Opus 5 and not sooner than September 1, 2027 for Fable 5.1.