GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) vs Step 5 Preview

Which is better for the money: GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) by OpenAI or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.

Clear winner

OpenAIGPT-6.1 Sol (Max)On the frontier

Intelligence: 51.80
Total cost: $1082

StepFunStep 5 PreviewOff the frontier

Intelligence: 43.70
Total cost: $1190

Verdict

Pick GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)

Step 5 Preview vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Max): 15.6% less intelligence, 10.1% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 94.5% faster end-to-end.

Metric	GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)	Step 5 Preview	Difference
Intelligence (higher is better)	51.8	43.7	−15.6% Step 5 Preview is 15.6% less intelligent
Total AA cost (lower is better)	$1,081.55	$1,190.26	+10.1% Step 5 Preview is 10.1% more expensive
End-to-end time (lower is better)	220.48s	12.06s	−94.5% Step 5 Preview is 94.5% faster
Price per 1M tokens (in / out)	$2.00 / $10.0	$1.00 / $2.70
Input modalities	Text, Image	Text, Image

Open this matchup in the interactive picker GPT-6.1 Sol (Max): what beats it Step 5 Preview: what beats it

Today's Pareto frontier

Against the frontier

GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) 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 51.80 for $1082.

GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)Step 5 PreviewToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model

Matchup

Compare something else

Agents: Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill