Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) by Alibaba or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Step 5 Preview scores 25.3 points higher (43.7 vs 18.4) but costs 1.3× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $941; both premium class). Pick Step 5 Preview when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning).
| Metric | Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 18.4 | 43.7 | +137.5% Step 5 Preview is 2.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $940.97 | $1,190.26 | +26.5% Step 5 Preview is 26.5% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 64.72s | 12.08s | −81.3% Step 5 Preview is 81.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.60 / $3.60 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning): 137.5% more intelligence, 26.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 81.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Qwen3.5 397B A17B (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/qwen3-5-397b-a17b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/qwen3-5-397b-a17b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill