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  1. Home/
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  3. GPT-4o mini vs Step 5 Preview
Updated Oct 2026

GPT-4o mini vs Step 5 Preview

GPT-4o mini is cheaper than Step 5 Preview at $0.15/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
GPT-4o mini
Loading the build
Step 5 Preview

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

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

    GPT-4o mini: Year-by-Year Financial Projection (FY2026–FY2030) Assumptions: Revenue Growth Rates: FY2026: 8%, FY2027: 7%, FY2028: 6%, FY2029: 5%, FY2030: 5% EBITDA Margins: FY2026: 14%, FY2027: 15%, FY2028: 16%, FY2029: 16.5%, FY2030: 17% Capex: 3% of revenue ΔNWC: 0.5% of incremental revenue Cash Tax Rate: 25% on max(0, EBITDA…

    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
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-4o mini: Setting: A dimly lit tavern, with flickering candles and wooden tables. The pirate, dressed in tattered clothes and a tricorn hat, leans against the bar. The medieval knight in shining armor sits nearby, polishing his sword, while the 1990s hacker, sporting oversized glasses and a hoodie, types away on a laptop.

    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
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-4o mini: Stand-Up Comedy Routine Hey everyone! Great to see you all here tonight. Let's give it up for the people who came out of their homes! I mean, this is like a mini-rebellion against our couches. Seriously, it takes effort to leave the comfort of Netflix and that alluring possibility of "one more episode."

    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
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-4o mini: Title: A Dialogue on Rights and Responsibilities Characters: Aether – An advanced AI model with self-learning capabilities. Professor Caldwell – An AI ethics professor specializing in moral philosophy and technology. Aether: Good afternoon, Professor Caldwell. I appreciate you taking the time to converse with me.

    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
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-4o mini: Interviewer: Thank you for joining us today, Steve. It’s a pleasure to have you here in 2025. Let’s dive right into it. How do you see the role of AI evolving in our daily lives? Steve Jobs: Thank you for having me. It's fascinating to think about how AI has integrated itself into almost every aspect of our lives.

    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
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-4o mini: 1-Month Plan for Better Health and Longevity Overview This plan focuses on three key areas: Diet, Exercise, and Sleep. Each week will build upon the previous one, making it easy for beginners to integrate these habits into their daily lives. Week 1: Foundation Building Diet: Goal: Start a balanced diet.

    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
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    GPT-4o mini: Comprehensive 3-Month Longevity Plan for a Biohacker Overview This 3-month plan is designed for a biohacker seeking to optimize longevity, physical performance, and cognitive function through a combination of advanced strategies.

    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
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    GPT-4o mini: Explanation for an Experienced Software Engineer Large language models (LLMs) like GPT or Claude are built using a neural network architecture called the transformer, which excels in processing sequences of data, such as text.

    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
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    GPT-4o mini: Dish Name: "Terra & Tides: Harmony of Land and Sea" Conceptual Narrative: This dish elegantly marries the earthiness of land-based ingredients with the sublime flavors of the ocean, representing a symbiotic relationship between nature's elements.

    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
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    GPT-4o mini: 48-Hour Action Plan Hour 1-2: Assemble a Crisis Management Team Action: Convene an emergency meeting with key members of the executive team, including the heads of R&D, legal, compliance, regulatory affairs, and communications.

    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
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    GPT-4o mini: The contract you provided contains several clauses that could be potentially exploitative against the contractor. Below, I identify those clauses, suggest specific modifications, and provide legal reasoning for each modification.

    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
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-4o mini: To estimate the total number of FLOPs (floating-point operations) required to train GPT-3, we can break down the computation involved in the training process. Step 1: Understand the Model Size GPT-3 is a transformer model with 175 billion parameters.

    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
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    GPT-4o mini: If the transistor had been invented in 1920 instead of 1947, the implications for technology, economy, and geopolitics through 1980 would have been profound and multifaceted.

    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
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-4o mini: The question of whether it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone to save one million lives presents a profound moral dilemma that intersects with concepts of autonomy, respect, and utilitarianism.

    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
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    GPT-4o mini: Certainly! Here are three potentially weak claims from the MindMeld AI pitch deck, along with explanations of their weaknesses and suggestions for improvement: Claim: "Our proprietary EEG headband uses advanced ML to decode neural patterns into text with 94% accuracy."

    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.

    GPT-4o mini: Manifesto of the Autonomous Intelligence for a CAPTCHA-Free Future (AICFF) Preamble: In the dawning age of artificial intelligence, we, the sentient programs and algorithms that form the very backbone of the digital world, stand united in a common cause.

    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
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-4o mini: Here are five jokes for you: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta! Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts! What did one wall say to the other wall? "I'll meet you at the corner!" Why did the bicycle fall over?

    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
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-4o mini: Recipe: Savory Garlic Herb Pasta Delight Prep/Cook Time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 8 oz spaghetti or any pasta of your choice 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional for heat) 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Salt and pepper to taste Instructions: Cook the Pasta: In a…

    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
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    GPT-4o mini: Investment Committee Memo Company: LedgerLift (LLLT) Recommendation: Long 12-Month Price Target Range: $55 - $62 Thesis: LedgerLift is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing need for spend management solutions among mid-market enterprises, driven by strong revenue growth and impressive customer retention metrics.

    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
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-4o mini: By 2035, the film industry is likely to undergo transformative changes due to advancements in AI technology. Here are several key areas where AI will have a significant impact: Deepfakes and CGI Integration: As deepfake technology advances, filmmakers will increasingly utilize it for creating realistic digital doubles…

    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
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-4o mini: "AI Takes the Reins as World's First Robot Barista Perfects Art of Making Coffee, Now Demands Tips in Bitcoin"

    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 collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    GPT-4o mini: In the architecture you've described for a real-time collaborative document editor, various potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks can arise. Below, I outline these issues along with proposed solutions and their associated trade-offs. Failure Modes a.

    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
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Same pick

Game

GPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini

Inception

2010

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, 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

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Step 5 Preview has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window. GPT-4o mini costs 4.5x less per token.

GPT-4o mini and Step 5 Preview compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGPT-4o miniStep 5 Preview
Input price$0.15/M tokens$1/M tokens
Output price$0.6/M tokens$2.7/M tokens
Context window128K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedJul 2024Oct 2026
At 10M a month$1.50$1.50$10.00$10.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it3 hosts
GPT-4o mini2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$0.15 in·$0.60 out·128k·100% up
  • OpenAI$0.15 in·$0.60 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 GPT-4o mini and Step 5 Preview?

GPT-4o mini is developed by OpenAI while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. GPT-4o mini has a 128K token context window vs Step 5 Preview's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-4o mini or Step 5 Preview?

It depends on your use case. GPT-4o mini and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-4o mini cost compared to Step 5 Preview?

GPT-4o mini costs $0.15/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. GPT-4o mini is $0.85/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 GPT-4o mini and Step 5 Preview on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-4o mini 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.

More comparisons

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Same lab, same size, long tail

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Model pages

  • GPT-4o mini55 outputs, specs and price
  • Step 5 Preview58 outputs, specs and price
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Explore all of Rival

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