Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Gemini 2.5 Pro by Google 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 27.6 points higher (43.7 vs 16.1) but costs 1.4× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $823; both premium class). Pick Step 5 Preview when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 2.5 Pro.
| Metric | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.1 | 43.7 | +171.4% Step 5 Preview is 2.7× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $822.85 | $1,190.26 | +44.7% Step 5 Preview is 44.7% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 27.13s | 12.06s | −55.5% Step 5 Preview is 55.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.25 / $10.0 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 2.5 Pro: 171.4% more intelligence, 44.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 55.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 2.5 Pro is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Gemini 2.5 ProStep 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/gemini-2-5-pro/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-2-5-pro/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill