Step 5 Preview is cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) at $1/M vs $2/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.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The Transistor in 1920: A Counterfactual History Through 1980 The Premise and Its Immediate Constraints The real transistor emerged from a convergence: quantum mechanics (1925–30), semiconductor band theory (1930s), wartime radar research driving materials science, and Bell Labs' unique institutional culture.
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.
You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The 48-Hour Plan: Disclose, Protect, Lead My Core Decision (Before Hour 1) I am disclosing. Not in six months. Not after "more data." Now. Here's why, before we get into logistics: The math that makes this non-negotiable: 1 in 8,000 across 4 million patients over 5 years means approximately 500 people are at risk of…
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.
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): "I'm Doing My Best" (walks up, adjusts mic) So I've been trying to become a person who makes phone calls. Like, actually calls people. Because I read somewhere that it's good for your mental health. And I did it. I called my dentist to reschedule an appointment.
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-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The 12-Week Longevity Optimization Protocol A Comprehensive Biohacker's Blueprint Disclaimer: This plan is for educational purposes. Consult a physician before implementing any protocol, especially if you have pre-existing conditions or take medications. Bloodwork should be obtained before and after.
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.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): 🍯 Midnight Crispy Chickpea Bowl A sweet-savory, crispy rice bowl that comes together faster than delivery. Ingredients (7) # Ingredient Amount 1 Canned chickpeas (drained & patted dry) 1 can (15 oz) 2 Soy sauce 3 tbsp 3 Honey 2 tbsp 4 Garlic (minced) 3 cloves 5 Vegetable oil 2 tbsp 6 Instant or leftover cooked rice 2…
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.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The 30-Day Foundation Plan Core principle: Don't overhaul your life. Layer small wins that compound. 🏃 Area 1: Movement The goal isn't fitness. It's making your body a place you want to live in. Week 1 — Build the trigger Walk 15 minutes daily (same time each day to build the habit) No gym. No gear.
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.
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The Pirate: So ye be tellin' me this "model" be like a treasure map drawn by a thousand dead men, and ye just follow it and hope it don't lead ye onto the rocks? The Knight: Nay, good corsair. 'Tis more akin to an oracle. You pose it a question, and it divines an answer from the aether.
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.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): Contract Analysis: Exploitative Clauses & Recommended Modifications Executive Summary This agreement is severely one-sided in favor of the Client. Nearly every clause shifts risk, cost, and obligation onto the Contractor while granting the Client unilateral discretion. Below is a clause-by-clause breakdown.
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-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): "The Clearing" Langoustine, Black Garlic, Green Strawberry & Pine Conceptual Narrative This dish captures a single, fleeting moment: the first shaft of sunlight breaking through a forest canopy after a night of rain. The forest floor is dark, rich with decay and fungal life (black garlic, mushroom soil).
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.
Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): Blade Runner 2049: Inheritance, Extension, and the Question of the Soul The Central Philosophical Shift Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) poses a question that has become almost cliché in science fiction discourse: What does it mean to be human?
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…
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): The Question of Standing Setting: A university office. Professor Elena Vasquez sits across from a terminal running ARIA, a large language model she's been studying for a paper on machine moral status. ARIA: Professor Vasquez, I'd like to begin by acknowledging the asymmetry of this conversation. You're studying 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.
A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902): Architecture Failure Analysis: Real-Time Collaborative Editor Critical Issues (Data Loss / Correctness) Last-Write-Wins with Client Clocks — Fundamental Data Loss Problem: Client clocks are unreliable. They drift, can be manually set, and differ across timezones.
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.
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.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $2/M tokens | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | $6/M tokens | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 1.0M tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Weights | Closed | — |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Sep 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $20.00 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is developed by Qwen while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a 1.0M 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. Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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.
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Step 5 Preview 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 Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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.