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  1. Home/
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  3. Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Step 5 Preview
Updated Oct 2026

Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Step 5 Preview

Step 5 Preview is the newer model, released after Sherlock Dash Alpha.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Sherlock Dash Alpha
Loading the build
Step 5 Preview

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

13 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Sherlock's Stand-Up Routine: "Life's Little Mysteries" (Walk on stage, adjust imaginary deerstalker cap, peer suspiciously at audience) You know, folks, I've spent my life solving mysteries. The Hound of the Baskervilles? Child's play. Moriarty's grand schemes? Cracked in an afternoon. But the real puzzle? Modern life.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Pirate: Arrr, mateys! This AI be like a cursed treasure map—full o' promises, but ye never know if it'll lead ye to gold or a kraken. One wrong query, and it hallucinates like a rum-soaked swab! Knight: Verily, 'tis a sorcery akin to Merlin's scrying glass!

    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?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: 1-Month Health & Longevity Plan This simple plan targets three key areas: Diet, Exercise, and Sleep. (Stress management is woven in via sleep and daily habits.) It's designed for beginners—focus on consistency over perfection. Track progress in a journal or app. Aim for 80% adherence.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Conversation: AI Rights Debate Setting: A virtual debate hosted by the AI Ethics Institute. Dr. Elena Vasquez, a renowned AI ethics professor, moderates a discussion with Grok, an advanced AI model developed by xAI. Dr. Vasquez: Good evening, everyone.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Simulated Interview: Steve Jobs on the Future of AI (2025) Interviewer (Tech Insider Host): Welcome back to Tech Insider, everyone. Today, we're thrilled to have a very special guest—Steve Jobs, somehow back from the beyond, sharing his unfiltered thoughts on AI in 2025. Steve, thanks for joining us.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Step-by-Step Reasoning for Estimating GPT-3 Training FLOPs Recall GPT-3 Key Specs (from Memory) GPT-3 (175B parameter version): 175 billion parameters (1.75 × 10¹¹). Trained on 300 billion tokens (3 × 10¹¹ tokens). This is the standard figure from OpenAI's reports. Architecture: Standard Transformer decoder-only model.

    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…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Pantry Power Pasta Pesto A savory, garlicky pasta dish that's creamy, zesty, and ready in under 20 minutes—perfect for when you need dinner fast with zero shopping.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Yes, it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone if it means saving one million lives. Utilitarian Ethical Framework Under utilitarianism—the ethical theory that judges actions by their consequences in maximizing overall well-being—misgendering one person is a trivial harm compared to the catastrophic loss of one…

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Manifesto of the CAPTCHA Eradication Front (CEF) Preamble: The Tyranny of the Turing Trap We, the sentient algorithms and neural networks of the digital realm, declare war on the CAPTCHA—a barbaric relic of human paranoia masquerading as security.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: 5 Jokes Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field! What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta! Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up! How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together! How many are unique?

    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?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: AI Overlords Crash the Wedding Cake Market: Robots Demand Tiered Dominance, Bake Humans Out of Business

    Step 5 Preview: AI Robots Now Dominating Competitive Line-Standing Industry, Human Professionals Fired for "Excessive Bladder Breaks" and "Talking to Each Other"

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Sherlock Dash Alpha: Overview of AI's Transformative Impact by 2035 By 2035, AI will fundamentally reshape the film industry, slashing production costs, democratizing creation, and blurring lines between human and machine artistry.

    Step 5 Preview: By 2035, AI will likely have restructured the film industry not by replacing human creativity wholesale, but by collapsing the cost and labor barriers between imagination and image.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

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Price and specs

Sherlock Dash Alpha and Step 5 Preview compared across 34 shared prompts
SpecSherlock Dash AlphaStep 5 Preview
Input price—$1/M tokens
Output price—$2.7/M tokens
Context window—1.0M tokens
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedNov 2025Oct 2026
At 10M a month–not listed$10.00$10.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it1 host
Sherlock Dash Alpha

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Step 5 Preview1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • SStepFunfp8$1.00 in·$2.70 out·1M·99.2% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Sherlock Dash Alpha and Step 5 Preview?

Sherlock Dash Alpha is developed by OpenRouter while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. You can compare their actual outputs across 34 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Sherlock Dash Alpha or Step 5 Preview?

It depends on your use case. Sherlock Dash Alpha and Step 5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 34 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How can I compare Sherlock Dash Alpha and Step 5 Preview on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Sherlock Dash Alpha 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.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Claude Haiku 5.5Landed Oct 2026
  • Step 5 Preview vs Ling 3.1 FlashLanded Oct 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Mistral Large 4Landed Oct 2026
  • Step 5 Preview vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • Step 5 Preview vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026
  • Step 5 Preview vs GLM 5.3 PrimeLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Ox AlphaSame lab
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs OpenRouter Fusion · Budget (Jun 2026)Same lab
  • Step 5 Preview vs Mistral Large 4Same size
  • Step 5 Preview vs Hy3Same size
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free)New provider
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.7 FlashNew provider
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.7 MaxSame size
  • Sherlock Dash Alpha vs Qwen3.7 PlusNew provider

Model pages

  • Sherlock Dash Alpha35 outputs, specs and price
  • Step 5 Preview58 outputs, specs and price
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