Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh) 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 (Xhigh) scores 6.0 points higher (49.7 vs 43.7) but costs 4.9× as much to run the benchmark ($5868 vs $1190; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh) when you need intelligence above 43.7, and Step 5 Preview when 43.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.7 | 43.7 | −12.1% Step 5 Preview is 12.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $5,867.76 | $1,190.26 | −79.7% Step 5 Preview is 79.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 35.31s | 12.06s | −65.8% Step 5 Preview is 65.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $25.0 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh): 12.1% less intelligence, 79.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 65.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- 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 (Xhigh)Step 5 PreviewToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-xhigh/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-xhigh/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill