Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) 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.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh): 29.7% more intelligence, 10.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 80.5% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.7 | 43.7 | +29.7% Step 5 Preview is 29.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,336.09 | $1,190.26 | −10.9% Step 5 Preview is 10.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 61.59s | 12.01s | −80.5% Step 5 Preview is 80.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.50 / $3.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) 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.
Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)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/qwen3-8-27b/step-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/qwen3-8-27b/step-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill