Granite 4.2 3B vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 3B by IBM or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Step 5 Preview scores 34.6 points higher (43.7 vs 9.1) but costs 80× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $14.9; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Step 5 Preview when you need intelligence above 9.1, and Granite 4.2 3B when 9.1 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 3B | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 9.1 | 43.7 | +380.2% Step 5 Preview is 4.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.91 | $1,190.26 | +7883.0% Step 5 Preview is 80× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 35.30s | 12.06s | −65.8% Step 5 Preview is 65.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.03 / $0.12 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Granite 4.2 3B: 380.2% more intelligence, 7883.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 65.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 3B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- 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 3BStep 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-4-2-3b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-3b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill