Gemini 4 Argon (High) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Gemini 4 Argon (High) by Google or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 4 Argon (High) scores 8.9 points higher (52.6 vs 43.7) but costs 2.0× as much to run the benchmark ($2407 vs $1190; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick Gemini 4 Argon (High) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Step 5 Preview.
| Metric | Gemini 4 Argon (High) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 52.6 | 43.7 | −16.9% Step 5 Preview is 16.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,407.24 | $1,190.26 | −50.6% Step 5 Preview is 50.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.20s | 12.01s | −81.0% Step 5 Preview is 81.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 4 Argon (High): 16.9% less intelligence, 50.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 81.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 4 Argon (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Gemini 4 Argon (High)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/gemini-4-argon/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-4-argon/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill