Muse Ember (Max) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Muse Ember (Max) by Meta or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-11-09.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Muse Ember (Max)
Step 5 Preview vs Muse Ember (Max): 20.8% less intelligence, 1303.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
| Metric | Muse Ember (Max) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 36.0 | 28.5 | −20.8% Step 5 Preview is 20.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $117.12 | $1,643.75 | +1303.5% Step 5 Preview is 14× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 18.14s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.10 / $0.50 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Muse Ember (Max) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 54.60 for $1124.
Muse Ember (Max)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/muse-ember/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/muse-ember/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill