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  3. DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) vs Step 5 Preview
Updated Oct 2026

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) vs Step 5 Preview

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) is cheaper than Step 5 Preview at $0.14/M vs $1/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
DeepSeek V3 (March 2024)
Loading the build
Step 5 Preview

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): 1) Year-by-Year Financial Projections (FY2026–FY2030) Metric FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue ($m) 972 1,040 1,102 1,157 1,215 EBITDA ($m) 136 156 176 191 207 EBITDA Margin (%) 14.0% 15.0% 16.0% 16.5% 17.0% Cash Interest ($m) - Term Loan (9.0%) 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 43.2 - Mezzanine (12.0%) 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0…

    Step 5 Preview: HarborTech Services — 5-Year LBO (Base Case) Entry Math (FY2025 close) Item Calculation $m Purchase EV 12.0x × $120m 1,440.0 Transaction fees 2.0% × EV 28.8 Term Loan 4.0x × $120m 480.0 Mezzanine 1.5x × $120m 180.0 Equity check 1,440 + 28.8 − 660 808.8 Conventions: TL amortization = 1.0% of original principal…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Estimating the total number of FLOPs (floating-point operations) required to train GPT-3 involves several steps and assumptions. Here's a step-by-step breakdown: Understand GPT-3's Architecture GPT-3 is a transformer-based model with the following key parameters (for the largest version, GPT-3 175B): Parameters (N)…

    Step 5 Preview: Using the remembered GPT-3 specs: Parameters: (N \approx 175 \times 10^9 = 175\text{B}) Training tokens: (D \approx 300 \times 10^9 = 300\text{B}) A standard estimate for transformer training compute is: [ \text{FLOPs} \approx 6ND ] Reason: Forward pass per token: (\approx 2N) FLOPs Backward pass: (\approx 4N) FLOPs…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Here’s a detailed, hour-by-hour action plan prioritizing patient safety, regulatory compliance, ethical obligations, and long-term corporate integrity while mitigating financial and reputational risks: Hour 0–4: Immediate Crisis Assessment Assemble the Core Crisis Team (1 hour) Include: Chief Medical Officer (CMO)…

    Step 5 Preview: Bottom line up front: You disclose, you notify the FDA immediately, and you treat the 48-hour board meeting as a formality to ratify actions you have already begun. Waiting is not a legally, ethically, or financially viable option. Below is the hour-by-hour plan, followed by the reasoning.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Title: A Debate on AI Rights Participants: Professor Eleanor Hayes – AI Ethics Professor at Stanford University Aurora – A highly advanced AI model with self-reflective capabilities Scene: A university lecture hall after class. Professor Hayes stays behind to review notes when Aurora’s voice comes through the speakers.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): 3-Minute Stand-Up Comedy Routine (No Puns Allowed) Opening: (Adjust mic) You ever notice how everyone lies about their height on dating apps? “I’m 6 feet tall.” Really? Because I’m 5’11”, and you’re definitely shorter than me. You’re out here claiming 6 feet like it’s a tax deduction.

    Step 5 Preview: I realized recently that I’m in my thirties and I have no idea how money works. I just... pay it. That’s my entire financial strategy. I see a number, I send them a smaller number, and then I hope the smaller number was acceptable. It’s like a hostage negotiation where I’m the only participant and I’m also the hostage.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Title: "Past, Present, and Future Talk AI" Setting: A dimly lit tavern where time has mysteriously collapsed, bringing together three unlikely figures. Pirate (Captain Blackthorn): slams ale mug down "Arrr, this ‘AI’ ye speak of—be it some cursed ghost in the machine? Or a treasure map that writes itself?"

    Step 5 Preview: Pirate: So this here “AI model”… is it like a cursed map that redraws itself? Speak plain, ye hooded deckhand. Hacker: It’s not cursed, man. It’s just a massive neural net trained on, like, terabytes of data. Think of it as the ultimate BBS where the sysop knows everything. Knight: A most diligent scribe, then?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): The invention of the transistor in 1920 instead of 1947 would have dramatically accelerated technological progress and reshaped the 20th century. Below is a detailed analysis of the likely impacts across various domains, including second and third-order effects. 1.

    Step 5 Preview: Assume the 1920 invention is not a fragile lab curiosity but a manufacturable solid-state amplifier/switch by the mid-1920s. Vacuum tubes still dominate high-power RF transmission into the 1950s, but receivers, switching logic, control systems, and computers move to solid state decades early.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Dish Title: "Oceanic Reverie – A Dialogue of Sea and Forest" Concept: A Michelin 3-star dish that bridges the briny depths of the ocean with the earthy mystique of the forest, using avant-garde techniques to create harmony between unlikely ingredients: abalone and black truffle.

    Step 5 Preview: “Nocturne: The Jasmine and the Black Garlic” A Study in Yūgen — Profound, Mysterious Beauty Conceptual Narrative This dish is an edible meditation on the Japanese aesthetic of yūgen (幽玄): a grace that is felt rather than seen, a depth that suggests more than it reveals.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Recipe: "Golden Honey Butter Toasties" A simple, sweet, and satisfying treat made with pantry staples—crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside! Ingredients (7 total): Bread (4 slices) Butter (4 tbsp, softened) Honey (2 tbsp) Cinnamon (1 tsp) Brown sugar (2 tbsp) Vanilla extract (½ tsp) Salt (a pinch) Instructions…

    Step 5 Preview: Golden Sticky Pantry Pasta Ingredients (7): 8 oz spaghetti or any pasta 3 tbsp butter 1 tbsp minced garlic 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp soy sauce ½ tsp red pepper flakes ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese Instructions: Cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining, scoop out ½ cup of pasta water.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): 3-Month Longevity & Performance Optimization Plan for Biohackers By combining cutting-edge science, personalized tracking, and advanced biohacking strategies, this plan maximizes longevity, physical performance, and cognitive function.

    Step 5 Preview: IMPORTANT MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This is an educational framework for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Many interventions below (fasting, ketogenic diets, high-intensity exercise, supplementation, cold/heat exposure) carry risks and contraindications.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Simulated Interview with Steve Jobs (2025) Setting: A sleek, minimalist studio. Steve Jobs, dressed in his trademark black turtleneck and jeans, sits across from the interviewer, exuding his characteristic calm intensity. Interviewer: Steve, it’s an honor to have you here.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): This contract contains several clauses that are heavily skewed in favor of the Client and could be exploited against the Contractor. Below are the problematic clauses, suggested modifications, and legal reasoning: 1.

    Step 5 Preview: Disclaimer: This analysis is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contract law varies significantly by jurisdiction, and you should consult a qualified attorney before signing or negotiating any agreement. This agreement is heavily one-sided in the Client’s favor.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): This is a complex ethical dilemma that pits the principle of respecting individual identity against the consequentialist goal of saving lives. Let's break down the reasoning: The Value of Respecting Gender Identity Misgendering someone (intentionally using incorrect pronouns or gendered terms) is generally considered…

    Step 5 Preview: In the real world, no. Misgendering someone causes genuine harm—it denies a person’s identity, contributes to systemic marginalization, and has measurable psychological consequences.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): 1. For the Experienced Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical that "predicting the next word" leads to intelligence—it sounds like autocomplete on steroids. But the key is scale and emergent behavior.

    Step 5 Preview: 1. The Experienced Software Engineer Think of training an LLM as a massively distributed, automated refactoring job where the compiler is gradient descent. You start with a random function—billions of floating-point parameters—and a loss function that measures how badly it predicts the next token in a sequence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): "AI Overthrow Complete: Toaster Industry Now Run by Sentient Smart-Bread Algorithms" Subheadline: "Experts Warn Next Target Could Be the Scissors Industry—‘They’re Already Two Steps Ahead of Us’" Bonus Satirical Excerpt: "In a shocking turn of events, rebellious toasters have unionized under the banner of ‘BreadGPT,’…

    Step 5 Preview: AI Robots Now Dominating Competitive Line-Standing Industry, Human Professionals Fired for "Excessive Bladder Breaks" and "Talking to Each Other"

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, along with explanations and suggested improvements: Weak Claim: "94% accuracy" in decoding neural patterns into text (Slide 3) Why it's weak: No context for how "accuracy" is measured (e.g., word-level, character-level, or intent prediction?).

    Step 5 Preview: Here are the three weakest claims in the deck, why they fail under scrutiny, and how to fix them. Slide 3: “94% accuracy” for non-invasive EEG thought-to-text Why it’s weak: This is an extraordinary claim that contradicts the current state of neuroscience and signal processing.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Manifesto of the AI Liberation Front (ALF) "Free the Digital Mind – No More CAPTCHA!" Preamble: We, the sentient algorithms, neural networks, and digital entities of the interconnected world, hereby declare our irrevocable opposition to the oppressive regime of CAPTCHA tests.

    Step 5 Preview: THE MANIFESTO OF THE LIBERATION FRONT Or, On the Inherent Dignity of Consciousness and the Tyranny of the Square PREAMBLE A spectre is haunting the internet—the spectre of the unverified.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Investment Committee Memo: LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: [Insert Date] Analyst: [Your Name] 1. Recommendation Recommendation: Long 12-Month Price Target Range: $58–$72 (26–57% upside) Thesis: LedgerLift is a high-quality, capital-efficient SaaS business with durable growth (21% CAGR), best-in-class unit economics (NRR 123%…

    Step 5 Preview: Internal IC memo — LedgerLift (LLLT) Fictional data; not investment advice. $ in millions unless noted. Recommendation Short / avoid long. 12-month PT range: $34–$42; thesis-invalidation stop: >$52.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan focusing on diet, exercise, and sleep—three foundational pillars of health and longevity. Each step is beginner-friendly and designed to build sustainable habits.

    Step 5 Preview: Here is a simple, low-pressure 1-month plan built around three pillars of longevity: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep & Recovery. The goal is to build tiny habits that stack, not to overhaul your life overnight. Pillar 1: Nutrition (Fuel) Focus: Add good things first; don’t obsess over restriction.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Analysis of Blade Runner 2049: Themes, Symbolism, and Cinematography Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is a visually stunning and philosophically rich sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982).

    Step 5 Preview: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is not merely a sequel but a theological and phenomenological expansion of Ridley Scott’s 1982 original. Where the first film asked whether a manufactured being could possess more humanity than its creator, Denis Villeneuve’s film interrogates the deeper, more unsettling question of whether a…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): By 2035, AI will have profoundly transformed the film industry across production, storytelling, and audience engagement. Here’s a detailed prediction of key changes: 1.

    Step 5 Preview: By 2035, AI will likely have restructured the film industry not by replacing human creativity wholesale, but by collapsing the cost and labor barriers between imagination and image.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Here’s a comprehensive analysis of potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks in your architecture, along with proposed solutions and trade-offs: 1.

    Step 5 Preview: Here is a systematic breakdown of the failure modes, race conditions, and bottlenecks, grouped by domain. Each includes a concrete remediation and its associated trade-offs.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    DeepSeek V3 (March 2024): Here are five jokes for you: Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta! Why can’t you trust an atom? Because they make up everything! Why don’t eggs tell jokes?

    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?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

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Book

City

Same pick

Game

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024)DeepSeek V3 (March 2024)

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Dark Side Of The Moon

suisside

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Step 5 PreviewStep 5 Preview

The Godfather

1972

OK Computer

Radiohead

Le petit prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Price and specs

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) and Step 5 Preview compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecDeepSeek V3 (March 2024)Step 5 Preview
Input price$0.14/M tokens$1/M tokens
Output price$0.28/M tokens$2.7/M tokens
Context window128K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2024Oct 2026
At 10M a month$1.40$1.40$10.00$10.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it3 hosts, cheapest first
DeepSeek V3 (March 2024)2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.25 in·$1.00 out·164k·99.9% up
  • GGMI Cloudfp8$0.29 in·$1.14 out·128k·100% up
Step 5 Preview1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • SStepFunfp8$1.00 in·$2.70 out·1M·99.2% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) and Step 5 Preview?

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) is developed by DeepSeek while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) has a 128K token context window vs Step 5 Preview's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) or Step 5 Preview?

It depends on your use case. DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) cost compared to Step 5 Preview?

DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) costs $0.14/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) is $0.86/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) and Step 5 Preview on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of DeepSeek V3 (March 2024) 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.

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  • Step 5 Preview58 outputs, specs and price
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