Grok 4.6 (Medium) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Grok 4.6 (Medium) by SpaceXAI 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
Verdict
Pick Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.6 (Medium): 2.1% more intelligence, 23.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 61.8% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Grok 4.6 (Medium) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.8 | 43.7 | +2.1% Step 5 Preview is 2.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,557.04 | $1,190.26 | −23.6% Step 5 Preview is 23.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.56s | 12.06s | −61.8% Step 5 Preview is 61.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $6.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Grok 4.6 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Grok 4.6 (Medium)Step 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/grok-4-6-medium/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-6-medium/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill