Qwen3 Coder Next vs Step 5 Preview
Which is better for the money: Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba or Step 5 Preview by StepFun? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-22.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Step 5 Preview scores 34.5 points higher (43.7 vs 9.2) but costs 1.9× as much to run the benchmark ($925 vs $476; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Step 5 Preview when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3 Coder Next.
| Metric | Qwen3 Coder Next | Step 5 Preview | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 9.2 | 43.7 | +375.0% Step 5 Preview is 4.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $476.23 | $924.68 | +94.2% Step 5 Preview is 94.2% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.95s | 33.68s | +384.6% Step 5 Preview is 384.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.35 / $1.20 | $1.00 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3 Coder Next: 375.0% more intelligence, 94.2% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 384.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Step 5 Preview is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Qwen3 Coder NextStep 5 PreviewToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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