LongCat 2.0 vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: LongCat 2.0 by LongCat 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 24.6 points higher (43.7 vs 19.1) but costs 2.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $545; both premium class). Pick Step 5 Preview when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise LongCat 2.0.
| Metric | LongCat 2.0 | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 19.1 | 43.7 | +128.8% Step 5 Preview is 2.3× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $544.74 | $1,190.26 | +118.5% Step 5 Preview is 2.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 35.54s | 12.06s | −66.1% Step 5 Preview is 66.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.75 / $2.95 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs LongCat 2.0: 128.8% more intelligence, 118.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 66.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- LongCat 2.0 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
LongCat 2.0Step 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/longcat-2-0/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/longcat-2-0/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill