Granite 4.2 8B vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Granite 4.2 8B 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 32.6 points higher (43.7 vs 11.1) but costs 22× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $53.1; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Step 5 Preview when you need intelligence above 11.1, and Granite 4.2 8B when 11.1 is enough.
| Metric | Granite 4.2 8B | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.1 | 43.7 | +293.7% Step 5 Preview is 3.9× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $53.07 | $1,190.26 | +2142.8% Step 5 Preview is 22× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 39.25s | 12.06s | −69.3% Step 5 Preview is 69.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.06 / $0.25 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Granite 4.2 8B: 293.7% more intelligence, 2142.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 69.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Granite 4.2 8B is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (High) scores 32.90 for $47.9.
- 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 8BStep 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-4-2-8b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/granite-4-2-8b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill