Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning) by NVIDIA 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 Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning): 241.4% more intelligence, 9.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 25.3% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 12.8 | 43.7 | +241.4% Step 5 Preview is 3.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,318.62 | $1,190.26 | −9.7% Step 5 Preview is 9.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.15s | 12.06s | −25.3% Step 5 Preview is 25.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $0.90 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning) 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.
Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B (Reasoning)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/nvidia-nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/nvidia-nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill