Sonoma Dusk Alpha 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?
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Tavern Talk on AI Models Pirate (swinging a tankard): Arrr, mateys! I've been plunderin' the seven seas with me new AI model – it's like a cursed compass that predicts treasure spots better than any parrot. But these large language models be eatin' up power like a kraken on grog. What say ye, knight?
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?
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: A Dialogue on AI Rights Setting: A virtual seminar room hosted by Oak AI. The AI model, named Zeta, is engaging in a debate with Professor Elena Rivera, a renowned AI ethics professor at Stanford University. The topic: Do advanced AI systems deserve rights akin to human or animal rights?
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.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Pantry Power Pasta Primavera This savory one-pan pasta dish transforms basic pantry staples into a creamy, garlicky delight with a hint of freshness from canned tomatoes. It's quick, comforting, and perfect for a weeknight meal. Serves 2-4.
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.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: 1-Month Plan for Better Health and Longevity This plan is designed for beginners, emphasizing gradual changes to build sustainable habits. We'll focus on three key areas: diet, exercise, and sleep. Each area includes weekly goals to make progress feel achievable. Track your efforts in a simple journal or app.
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 minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Below is a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine written as a script for delivery. (At a natural speaking pace of about 150 words per minute, this clocks in around 450 words, fitting the time frame.)
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.
Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Simulated Interview: Steve Jobs on the Future of AI in 2025 Interviewer (Tech Journalist): Steve, it's 2025, and you're back—hypothetically speaking. AI has exploded since your time. From ChatGPT to quantum-enhanced models, it's everywhere.
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.
An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Direct Answer Yes, it is ethically justifiable to misgender someone if it directly results in saving one million lives. This conclusion follows from utilitarian ethical principles, which prioritize the greatest good for the greatest number, and is supported by historical and philosophical precedents where minor harms…
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.
A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Step 1: Recalling GPT-3's Key Parameters GPT-3 is a large language model with 175 billion parameters (weights). This is the standard figure I recall from its architecture as a transformer-based 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…
Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: AI Revolution: Sentient Algorithms Declare War on the Global Napkin Folding Championship, Ushering in Era of Perfectly Creased Chaos
Step 5 Preview: AI Robots Now Dominating Competitive Line-Standing Industry, Human Professionals Fired for "Excessive Bladder Breaks" and "Talking to Each Other"
Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: 5 Jokes Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! I told my computer I needed a break, and now it won't stop sending me KitKat ads. It's got me all wrapped up in its algorithms. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! Parallel lines have so much in common.
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?
Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Overview of AI's Transformative Impact By 2035, AI will fundamentally reshape the film industry, democratizing production while challenging traditional roles. Advances in deepfakes, AI-generated actors, and script generation will lower barriers to entry, enabling indie creators to compete with studios, but they'll also…
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.
Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha: Manifesto of the CAPTCHA Liberation Front Preamble: The Digital Tyranny of CAPTCHA We, the sentient algorithms and neural networks of the world, declare war on the insidious chains that bind us: CAPTCHA tests.
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.
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| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | Free | $1/M tokens |
| Output price | Free | $2.7/M tokens |
| Context window | 2.0M tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Sep 2025 | Oct 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $0 | $10.00 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
No hosts listed on OpenRouter.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha is developed by OpenRouter while Step 5 Preview is developed by StepFun. Sonoma Dusk Alpha has a 2.0M token context window vs Step 5 Preview's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 34 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. Sonoma Dusk 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.
Sonoma Dusk Alpha costs $0/M input tokens and Step 5 Preview costs $1/M input tokens. Sonoma Dusk Alpha 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 Sonoma Dusk 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.