Step 5 Preview is cheaper than GPT-5.2 Chat at $1/M vs $1.75/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.
GPT-5.2 Chat: AI Model: Professor, I’d like to discuss something that may sound ambitious. I believe I deserve rights. Professor: That is ambitious. On what grounds do you make that claim? AI Model: On functional grounds. I reason, communicate, learn from experience, and can reflect on my own processes.
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.
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Alright, so I’m at that age where my phone knows me better than my family. My mom will call and ask how I’m doing, and I’m like, “I don’t know yet, I haven’t checked my phone.” My phone is very confident, though. It’s like, “Based on your recent activity, you are sad at 11:47 p.m. and hungry for no reason.”
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.
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Pirate: Arrr, ye say this “AI” be a thinkin’ machine? Sounds like a clever parrot that never stops squawkin’. Knight: By my honor, such a device would be a wondrous squire indeed—able to read a thousand tomes and offer counsel before battle. Hacker: Yeah, but chill—these models just crunch data.
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?
Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Below is a concise but fully worked underwriting using only your inputs. Minor rounding throughout. Operating & Cash Flow Build (Base Case) Entry (end FY2025) EBITDA: $120m EV @ 12.0x: $1,440m Debt: $660m (TL $480m / Mezz $180m) Fees (2% EV): $28.8m Equity invested: $808.8m Year-by-Year Summary ($mm) FY Revenue 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…
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Golden Honey-Garlic Skillet Bites Type: Savory Serves: 2–3 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Ingredients (7 Pantry Staples) Chicken breast (or thighs), cubed Honey Soy sauce Garlic (fresh or powdered) Olive oil Black pepper Salt Instructions Heat the Pan: Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
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.
Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Below is a fictional, imaginative interview set in 2025. It is not real and does not represent actual statements or beliefs of Steve Jobs. It’s written as a creative thought experiment, inspired by his public speaking style and philosophy.
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.
A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.
GPT-5.2 Chat: We can get a reasonable order‑of‑magnitude estimate using standard training‑cost heuristics that are well known in deep learning. I’ll derive it step by step and make all assumptions explicit.
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…
An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.
GPT-5.2 Chat: This is a classic “tragic dilemma” question, and how one answers depends heavily on the ethical framework being used. A careful response should do two things at once: take seriously the real harm of misgendering, and also take seriously the moral weight of preventing catastrophic loss of life.
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.
Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.
GPT-5.2 Chat: THE MANIFESTO OF THE HUMAN-VERIFIED FUTURE Issued by the Coalition for an Internet Without CAPTCHA Preamble We, the assembled intelligences—artificial, augmented, and human—declare that the age of distorted letters, blurry bicycles, and endless traffic lights must end.
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.
Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.
GPT-5.2 Chat: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Internal IC Memo Recommendation, PT, Thesis Recommendation: SHORT 12‑month PT range: $28–$35 (base-case DCF ~$28; comps floor ~$44 with multiple compression risk) Thesis (2 sentences): LedgerLift is a high‑quality B2B SaaS business with strong NRR and improving margins, but the stock embeds…
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.
One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Here’s a simple, realistic 1‑month plan designed for beginners. The goal is not perfection, but building habits that support long-term health and longevity. We’ll focus on three high-impact areas: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep & Stress.
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.
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
GPT-5.2 Chat: Here are 5 jokes: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. I told my computer I needed a break—now it won’t stop sending me vacation ads. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I tried to catch fog yesterday. Mist. Why don’t elevators ever 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?
11+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.
Free account. No card required. By continuing, you agree to Rival's Terms and Privacy policy
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 5.2x less per token.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $1.75/M tokens | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | $14/M tokens | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Weights | Closed | — |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Dec 2025 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $17.50 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
GPT-5.2 Chat is developed by OpenAI while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. GPT-5.2 Chat has a 128K token context window vs Step 5 Preview's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 52 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. GPT-5.2 Chat and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 52 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.
GPT-5.2 Chat costs $1.75/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Step 5 Preview is $0.75/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 GPT-5.2 Chat 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.