Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 13.9 points higher (57.6 vs 43.7) but costs 7.3× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $1190; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 43.7, and Step 5 Preview when 43.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 43.7 | −24.1% Step 5 Preview is 24.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $1,190.26 | −86.3% Step 5 Preview is 86.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 626.13s | 12.06s | −98.1% Step 5 Preview is 98.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 24.1% less intelligence, 86.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 98.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)Step 5 PreviewToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill