Granite 4.2 30B vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 30B by IBM 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
Step 5 Preview scores 31.0 points higher (43.7 vs 12.7) but costs 11× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $111; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Step 5 Preview when you need intelligence above 12.7, and Granite 4.2 30B when 12.7 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 30B | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 12.7 | 43.7 | +244.1% Step 5 Preview is 3.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $110.83 | $1,190.26 | +974.0% Step 5 Preview is 11× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 44.22s | 12.01s | −72.8% Step 5 Preview is 72.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.16 / $0.65 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Granite 4.2 30B: 244.1% more intelligence, 974.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 72.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 30B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Granite 4.2 30BStep 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/granite-4-2-30b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-30b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill