Step 5 Preview pricing in 2026
What one task costs on Step 5 Preview
Per-million-token prices are hard to feel, so here are typical token counts for common jobs priced with Step 5 Preview. Figures are USD at the rates above and exclude prompt caching and batch discounts.
| Task | Tokens (in / out) | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Code review of a 500-line pull request | 60,000 / 4,000 | $0.071 |
| Debug one failing test | 40,000 / 6,000 | $0.056 |
| Generate a landing page in one shot | 3,000 / 30,000 | $0.084 |
| Draft a 1,200-word article | 2,000 / 2,500 | $0.0088 |
| Answer a question from a 20-page document | 25,000 / 800 | $0.027 |
| Multi-step agent run (10 tool calls) | 250,000 / 25,000 | $0.318 |
| All of the above, once | $0.564 |
Cheaper at the same or better capability: GLM-5.3 FlashX runs the same set of tasks for $0.226 instead of $0.564.
Step 5 Preview by StepFun costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens — about 439.6k tokens per $1. Prices last verified 2026-09-19.
The verdict
StepFun's frontier reasoning model, released 18 September 2026. It scores 44 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index — above Grok 4.6 and Kimi K3 — at $1 / $2.70 per 1M tokens, which makes it one of the best intelligence-per-dollar endpoints at the top of the index. It accepts text and images over a 1M-token context. Two caveats: it is a preview release, and we could not verify the price against a StepFun first-party page.
A concrete example: sending 100,000 input tokens and getting back 20,000 output tokens with Step 5 Preview costs about $0.15 at current prices.
Who is Step 5 Preview for?
Step 5 Preview is the first StepFun model to land near the front of the Artificial Analysis leaderboard. It scores 44 on the Intelligence Index v4.3 — level with Grok 4.6 and above Kimi K3 — while costing $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output, around a tenth of what the premium flagships charge for the same class of score. It takes text and image input and returns text over a 1M-token context window, and it runs at roughly 100 output tokens per second.
The case against it is maturity and verbosity. It is a preview release from a much smaller lab than the incumbents, so expect a thinner ecosystem, fewer guarantees and less production evidence. It is also unusually token-hungry: running the full Intelligence Index generated 160M output tokens, about 1.8x the median, and output tokens are where the cost lands. Even so, on the numbers we track it is the cheapest route to an index in the mid-40s — worth a pilot, not yet a default.
Strengths & weaknesses
- Strength: Near-frontier index for a fraction of the flagship price
- Best for: Value, Agentic, Long-context, Backend
- Weakness: Preview release, and very verbose — it generated 160M output tokens to run the Intelligence Index, roughly 1.8x the median. The $1 / $2.70 price is sourced from Artificial Analysis rather than StepFun's own price list.
Step 5 Preview key facts
| Provider | Step pricing |
|---|---|
| Input price | $1 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $2.70 / 1M tokens |
| Tokens / $1 | 439.6k |
| Intelligence / $1 | 193,407 |
| Context window | 1.0M tokens |
| Tier | frontier |
| Speed | Very fast (100+ tokens/sec) |
| Intelligence index | 44 / 100 |
| Released | 2026-09-18 |
| Last verified | 2026-09-19 |
What Step 5 Preview delivers for your budget
For a coding workload, here is roughly what each monthly budget buys:
| Budget | Tokens / month | Months of workload |
|---|---|---|
| $20 | 14.4M | 22.1x |
| $50 | 35.9M | 55.2x |
| $100 | 71.8M | 110.5x |
How Step 5 Preview compares to its closest rivals
Rather than repeating the full catalog on every page, here are the three current models nearest to Step 5 Preview on the intelligence index — and why you might still pick one instead:
- Grok 4.6 (Grok) — $2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens. Why you might pick it: Frontier index at mid price.
- Kimi K3 (Kimi) — $3 input / $15 output per 1M tokens. Why you might pick it: Top-tier reasoning from Moonshot.
- Qwen3.8 Max (Qwen) — $2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens. Why you might pick it: Multimodal frontier capability from Alibaba.
Step 5 Preview — frequently asked questions
How much does Step 5 Preview cost?
Step 5 Preview by StepFun costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens.
How many tokens per dollar does Step 5 Preview give you?
On a typical 1:3 input-to-output mix, Step 5 Preview delivers around 439.6k tokens per dollar — an intelligence-per-dollar score of 193407.
What is Step 5 Preview's context window?
Step 5 Preview supports a context window of 1.0M tokens.
Is Step 5 Preview worth it in 2026?
Step 5 Preview is Step's frontier tier model. Use the AI Intelligence Calculator to see how its value compares to every other model at your budget.