Laguna XS 2.1 (free) is cheaper than Step 5 Preview at $0/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?
The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): The Transistor Revolution: A 1920 Timeline Analysis Immediate Impact (1920-1940) Early Military Applications With transistors available 27 years before radar, telecommunications would see revolutionary improvements: Radio warfare: Nations could develop sophisticated radio direction-finding and jamming capabilities by…
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.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): 3-Month Longevity & Performance Optimization Plan for a Biohacker Designed for advanced biohackers with a focus on longevity, cognitive sharpness, and peak physical performance. Assumes access to basic medical testing, wearables, and some advanced tools (e.g., neurofeedback apps).
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.
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): [Opening] Walks on stage, adjusts mic "So, I’ve been trying to disconnect from technology lately. Which is funny, because my phone is literally trying to disconnect from me. It keeps showing me this little red badge that says, ‘Battery at 5%.’
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.
Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Recipe: "Nocturne of Shadows and Light" Concept: A poetic exploration of ancient flavors (pomegranate, quince) intertwined with modernist techniques (spherification, sous vide) and an unexpected coffee-cocoa depth, harmonizing the boldness of game with the elegance of fruit.
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.
A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): I'll analyze each clause in this software consulting agreement to identify potential risks to the contractor and suggest modifications with legal reasoning. Clause-by-Clause Analysis Clause 1: SCOPE Risk: Unlimited scope creep without additional compensation Modification: Add: "Any modification to the scope requiring…
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.
Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Analysis of "Blade Runner 2049": Themes, Symbolism, Cinematography, and Connection to the Original Themes: Blade Runner 2049 delves into themes of memory, identity, and the essence of humanity, building upon the original's existential inquiries while expanding them into new territories.
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…
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Here are 5 jokes: Pun: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Knock-knock: Knock knock. Who’s there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Lettuce in, it’s cold out here! One-liner: I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. Math joke: Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7, 8, 9!
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?
One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): For the Software Engineer Think of training a language model like building a distributed prediction system with an incredibly complex API contract. Instead of training on labeled datasets where you explicitly tell it "this text is sentiment-positive," you're feeding it massive amounts of text and asking it to predict…
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.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Recipe Name: Sun-Drenched Tomato & Herb Skillet Pasta Ingredients (7): 8 oz pasta (penne, fusilli, or spaghetti) 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion, diced 3 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp dried oregano (or basil/thyme) ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus extra for serving) Prep Time: 10 minutes…
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.
One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): 1-Month Health & Longevity Plan Focus Areas: Diet, Exercise, Sleep Week 1: Start with Foundational Habits Diet: Action: Add 1 serving of fruit or vegetables daily (e.g., a banana with breakfast, a side salad with lunch). Why: Boosts nutrient intake and fiber.
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.
Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): Simulated Interview with Steve Jobs (2025) Setting: A minimalist, sunlit studio in Palo Alto. Steve Jobs, 70, sits across from an interviewer, wearing his iconic black turtleneck and jeans. The camera rolls. Interviewer: Steve, you’ve been gone for a decade, but your vision still shapes how we live with technology.
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.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free): To estimate the total number of FLOPs required to train GPT-3, we use a standard formula for large language models: Total FLOPs ≈ 6 × Parameters × Tokens Step-by-Step Reasoning: Parameters: GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters (175 × 10⁹). Tokens: The model was trained on 300 billion tokens (3 × 10¹¹).
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…
5+ 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.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | Free | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | Free | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 262K tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | Yes (1 provider) | No |
| Released | Jul 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $0 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free) is developed by Poolside while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. Laguna XS 2.1 (free) has a 262K token context window vs Step 5 Preview's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 35 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. Laguna XS 2.1 (free) and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 35 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.
Laguna XS 2.1 (free) costs $0/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Laguna XS 2.1 (free) is $1.00/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 Laguna XS 2.1 (free) 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.