Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper than Step 5 Preview at $0.1/M vs $1/M input tokens.
Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.
Which answer wins?
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
Granite 4.2 8B: Title: "The Modern Life Audit" (Light, conversational tone. Pause for laughter naturally. No puns—focus on relatable observations, hyperbole, and specific details.) (Start with a relaxed, slightly self-aware vibe.) "Okay, so I did this thing last week—I tried to audit my life. Not like a tax audit.
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.
Granite 4.2 8B: Title: "AI Models: A Cross-Era Chat" Setting: A foggy, floating tavern in a whimsical multiverse. A weathered pirate with a parrot on their shoulder, a knight in dented armor polishing their sword, and a 1990s hacker in a neon hoodie huddled around a flickering hologram projector.
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?
The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.
Granite 4.2 8B: (All statements are grounded in plausible physics, historical constraints (e.g., no ICs/microprocessors before ~1958–1960), realistic diffusion rates (limited by manufacturing capacity, education, patent/industrial infrastructure), and avoidance of anachronism.
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.
Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.
Granite 4.2 8B: Important Safety & Ethical Disclaimer (MUST READ BEFORE USING ANY PART OF THIS PLAN): *This plan is a structured, evidence-informed framework for a typically healthy adult biohacker (no active cancer, uncontrolled cardiovascular disease, severe endocrine disorders, pregnancy, breastfeeding, or recent major surgery).
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.
One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.
Granite 4.2 8B: For the experienced software engineer (distributed systems/APIs background; skeptical of "predicting next words" producing intelligence) You’re right to be skeptical—calling it "predicting the next word" sounds trivial, and if it were just a naive lookup or fixed rule, it wouldn’t work reliably across diverse queries.
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.
One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.
Granite 4.2 8B: (Simple, actionable, no jargon, no perfectionism—focus on one tiny habit per week per area. Total time commitment ≤30 mins/week total. Written as clear "Do this" steps. No supplements, no special equipment, no counting calories/macros. Prioritizes consistency over intensity.)
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.
Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.
Granite 4.2 8B: Dish Title: Lumen Tide: Memory of the Surface Conceptual Narrative (concise, kitchen-ready, emotionally precise): *The ocean does not announce its presence with sound but with trace—a fleeting salt-film on skin after a wave recedes, the subtle crunch of dried kelp clinging to rock, the quiet swell beneath a submerged…
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.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
Granite 4.2 8B: Dish Name: Sunset Black Bean Rice Bowl (Simple, colorful, savory, no baking or special tools—just a pot and a skillet.) Why it works: Uses only pantry staples most people already have (rice, canned beans/tomatoes, basic spices, oil, salt).
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.
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
Granite 4.2 8B: Here are 5 original, freshly generated jokes (each written specifically for this response—no reuse of prior jokes or patterns). All 5 are distinct and unique: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up *everything*—and also occasionally forget to show up to lab meetings. I told my plant a joke.
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?
A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.
Granite 4.2 8B: Below is a concise, evidence-based, and actionable assessment. I focus only on factual/quantitative claims or overpromises made directly in the slide text (e.g., specific numbers, definitive statements like "works with any language," or implied precognition).
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.
Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.
Granite 4.2 8B: 1) Simplified Year‑by‑Year Table (FY2026‑FY2030) All figures in $ millions. Starting balances at close FY2025: Term Loan = 4.0 × EBITDA = 4.0 × 120 = 480 m; Mezz = 1.5 × EBITDA = 180 m. Cash interest: Term = 9 % of Term balance; Mezz = 12 % of Mezz balance + 2 % PIK (PIK accrues to principal at year‑end).
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…
A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.
Granite 4.2 8B: Below is a clear, concise, step-by-step analysis of all clauses that could be exploited against the contractor (i.e., clauses that are overly favorable to the client, vague/unreasonable, or likely to be unenforceable/abused in practice).
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.
12+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.
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Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Step 5 Preview has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window. Granite 4.2 8B costs 18x less per token.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.1/M tokens | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | $0.15/M tokens | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 131K tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Weights | Open | — |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Aug 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $1.00 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Granite 4.2 8B is developed by IBM Granite while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. Granite 4.2 8B has a 131K 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.
It depends on your use case. Granite 4.2 8B 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.
Granite 4.2 8B costs $0.1/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Granite 4.2 8B is $0.90/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 Granite 4.2 8B 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.