DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 0324 by DeepSeek 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
Step 5 Preview scores 34.0 points higher (43.7 vs 9.7) but costs 60× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $19.9; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Step 5 Preview when you need intelligence above 9.7, and DeepSeek V3 0324 when 9.7 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 9.7 | 43.7 | +350.5% Step 5 Preview is 4.5× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $19.87 | $1,190.26 | +5890.2% Step 5 Preview is 60× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.96s | 12.06s | +143.1% Step 5 Preview is 143.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.24 / $0.90 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs DeepSeek V3 0324: 350.5% more intelligence, 5890.2% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 143.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 0324 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V3 0324Step 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/deepseek-v3-0324/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3-0324/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill