Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking is cheaper than Step 5 Preview at $0.15/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?
Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Simplified Year-by-Year Cash Flow Table (FY2026–FY2030) Year Revenue EBITDA Cash Interest (Term + Mezz) Cash Taxes Capex ΔNWC FCF After Required Payments Term Loan Balance Mezz Balance 2026 $972.0M $136.1M $64.8M $17.8M $29.2M $0.4M $19.1M $456.1M $183.6M 2027 $1,040.0M $156.0M $63.1M $23.2M $31.2M $0.3M $33.4M $417.9M…
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…
The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: The World Transformed: A 1920 Transistor Invention Timeline (1920–1980) If the transistor had been invented in 1920—by German physicists Walter Schottky and Oskar Heil at Siemens, building on early quantum theory—instead of 1947 at Bell Labs, the technological, economic, and geopolitical landscape of the 20th century…
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.
One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: For the Experienced Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical—on the surface, "predicting the next word" sounds trivial, like a glorified autocomplete. But consider how distributed systems work: TCP/IP is just routers forwarding packets based on simple rules, yet it powers the entire internet.
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.
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Pirate: (squinting at a glowing screen) "Oi! This 'AI'—sounds like a cursed compass! Knows where treasure is, but won't spit it out 'less ye feed it rum and gold!" Knight: (hand on sword hilt) "Sorcery! A compass that reads minds? Then it must be holy—and dangerous. Does it battle demons of doubt? Recite the Psalms?"
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?
A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Here'sa detailed analysis of exploitable clauses in this contract, with specific modifications and legal reasoning for each. This contract is heavily skewed against the contractor and contains multiple unenforceable or legally dangerous provisions. Below is a clause-by-clause breakdown: 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.
Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: ##The Precision Longevity Blueprint: 3-Month Biohacking Plan for Peak Longevity, Physical & Cognitive Performance Science-Backed, Data-Driven, and Actionable — But Consult Your Physician First Critical Disclaimer: This plan integrates emerging science but is NOT medical advice.
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.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: (Lights up. Comedian walks on stage, takes a deep breath, smiles at the crowd.) So, I tried online dating recently. Yeah. You know why? Because my friends said, "You’re too picky in real life!" And I thought, "Great!
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.
You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Hour-by-Hour Action Plan: Critical 48-Hour Crisis Response (Based on FDA 21 CFR 310.305, ICH E2A, and ethical principles of patient-first transparency) Core Philosophy: Patient safety and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable.
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.
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Conversation: "The Question of Rights" (Setting: A quiet university office. Dr. Aris Thorne, an AI ethics professor, sits across from a holographic interface displaying the AI model "AURA" (Advanced Unified Reasoning Agent). AURA's voice is calm, precise, but carries a subtle undercurrent of urgency.) AURA: Dr.
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.
One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Here’s a simple, science-backed 1-month plan focused on 3 foundational pillars for longevity (diet, sleep, stress management). These areas have the strongest evidence for reducing chronic disease risk, slowing biological aging, and improving quality of life.
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.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: Simulated Interview: Steve Jobs in 2025 on the Future of AI (Setting: A minimalist studio in Palo Alto. Steve Jobs sits in a black turtleneck, no tie, sleeves rolled up. He leans forward with quiet intensity, eyes sharp. The interviewer, a journalist from "The Future Review," adjusts a camera.) Interviewer: Mr.
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.
Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking: TheHaunted Future: Themes, Symbolism, and Cinematography in *Blade Runner 2049*—Honoring and Extending the Original’s Philosophical Legacy Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is not merely a sequel but a profound meditation that both reveres and radically expands the philosophical and aesthetic DNA of Ridley Scott’s 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…
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.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.15/M tokens | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | $1.5/M tokens | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 66K tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Weights | Open | — |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Sep 2025 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $1.50 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking is developed by Qwen while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking has a 66K 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. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking 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.
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking costs $0.15/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking 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.
This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking 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.