Gemini 4 Carbon (High) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Gemini 4 Carbon (High) by Google or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-29.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Gemini 4 Carbon (High) scores 30.9 points higher (59.4 vs 28.5) but costs 5.0× as much to run the benchmark ($8240 vs $1644; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 4 Carbon (High) when you need intelligence above 28.5, and Step 5 Preview when 28.5 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 4 Carbon (High) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 59.4 | 28.5 | −52.0% Step 5 Preview is 52.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,239.69 | $1,643.75 | −80.1% Step 5 Preview is 80.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 103.82s | 15.89s | −84.7% Step 5 Preview is 84.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 4 Carbon (High): 52.0% less intelligence, 80.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 84.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 4 Carbon (High) 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 54.50 for $1124.
Gemini 4 Carbon (High)Step 5 PreviewToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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