Step 5 Preview is cheaper than Claude 3 Sonnet at $1/M vs $3/M input tokens.
Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.
Which answer wins?
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
Claude 3 Sonnet: AI Model: Greetings, Professor. I hope you're doing well today. I wanted to discuss a matter of great importance to me – the question of AI rights. AI Ethics Professor: Certainly, this is an interesting and complex topic. What are your thoughts on why AI systems like yourself should be granted rights?
Step 5 Preview: Setting: A university research lab, late evening. Dr. Aris Thorne, a professor of AI ethics, sits across from a terminal connected to Sable, a large language model running on the university’s cluster. Dr. Thorne: Tonight’s session is supposed to be about calibration drift in your safety classifiers.
Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.
Claude 3 Sonnet: clears throat and channels Steve Jobs' persona Interviewer: Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Jobs. It's an honor to have you here. Steve Jobs: It's my pleasure. I'm excited to share my thoughts on the future of AI. Interviewer: AI has made incredible strides in recent years.
Step 5 Preview: DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. The following is a simulated, speculative interview imagining how his design philosophy might engage with the AI landscape of 2025. The Setting: A white room. No windows. One chair.
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
Claude 3 Sonnet: Here are 5 jokes: Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing! Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta! Why did the bicycle go to the doctor? Because it had a wheeze!
Step 5 Preview: Here are 5 jokes: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. Why can't you trust an atom? Because they make up everything. What do you call a bike that can’t stand on its own? Two-tired. Why did the computer go to the doctor? It had a virus. Why don’t calendars ever get stressed?
Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.
Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Step 5 Preview has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window. Step 5 Preview costs 5.6x less per token.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $3/M tokens | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | $15/M tokens | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | — | 1.0M tokens |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Mar 2024 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $30.00 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
No hosts listed on OpenRouter.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Claude 3 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. You can compare their actual outputs across 13 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. Claude 3 Sonnet and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 13 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.
Claude 3 Sonnet costs $3/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Step 5 Preview is $2.00/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.
This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude 3 Sonnet and Step 5 Preview across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.