Grok 4.6 (High) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Grok 4.6 (High) 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.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Grok 4.6 (High) scores 0.6 points higher (44.3 vs 43.7) but costs 1.6× as much to run the benchmark ($1963 vs $1190; both premium class). Pick Grok 4.6 (High) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Step 5 Preview.
| Metric | Grok 4.6 (High) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 44.3 | 43.7 | −1.4% Step 5 Preview is 1.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,962.90 | $1,190.26 | −39.4% Step 5 Preview is 39.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.72s | 12.06s | −62.0% Step 5 Preview is 62.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $6.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.6 (High): 1.4% less intelligence, 39.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 62.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Grok 4.6 (High) 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 (High)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/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-6/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill