Head to head · tested 27 Oct 2026

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: accuracy, speed and price

Similar accuracy; Step 5 Preview costs less per question.

QwenQwen3.8 2.4T A95B57.5% score · #44$0.015 per question44 tok/s

StepFunStep 5 Preview63.8% score · #34$0.0047 per question93 tok/s

Verdict

Built from the measurements below

Accuracy is too close to call: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B scored 57.5% and Step 5 Preview 63.8% on the same 80 questions, a gap within what chance alone could produce.
Step 5 Preview is 3.2× cheaper per question as billed ($0.0047 vs $0.015), reasoning tokens included.
Step 5 Preview generates text 2.1× faster: 93 tokens per second against 44.
Step 5 Preview starts answering sooner: 0.6 s to the first token, against 3.1 s for Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B.

Which should you choose?

Choose Step 5 Preview for the lower cost per correct answer ($0.0074 against $0.026), faster streaming and a quicker first token.

Accuracy gap -6.3 points (z = -0.81). We call a winner only when z is at least 1.96, the usual 95% threshold. Speed, latency and price need a 10% margin.

Head to head

Same questions, same prompt, same API

Measure	Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B	Step 5 Preview	Edge
Verification scoreHigher is better	57.5%	63.8%	Too close to call
Cost per questionLower is better	$0.015	$0.0047	Step 5 Preview
Output speedHigher is better	44	93	Step 5 Preview
Time to first tokenLower is better	3.1 s	0.6 s	Step 5 Preview
End-to-end response timeLower is better	14.8 s	8.2 s	Step 5 Preview
Tokens per questionLower is better	2,408	1,630	Step 5 Preview
Context windowHigher is better	1M	1M	Similar

Side by side

Bars are scaled to the larger of the two values. The winner on each measure is marked in bold.

Every measure

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B first, Step 5 Preview second

Verification scorehigher is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B57.5%

Step 5 Preview63.8%

Cost per questionlower is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B$0.015

Step 5 Preview$0.0047

Output speedhigher is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B44

Step 5 Preview93

Time to first tokenlower is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B3.1 s

Step 5 Preview0.6 s

End-to-end response timelower is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B14.8 s

Step 5 Preview8.2 s

Tokens per questionlower is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B2,408

Step 5 Preview1,630

Context windowhigher is better

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B1M

Step 5 Preview1M

Score vs. cost per question

Both models in color, every other model in grey

Results by subject and dataset

Questions answered correctly. Small samples: a gap of one or two questions is noise.

Subject	Questions	Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B	Step 5 Preview
Science	30	21/30	24/30
Engineering	15	5/15	6/15
Medicine	11	4/11	4/11
Economics	9	7/9	7/9
Law	6	2/6	2/6
Humanities & social science	9	7/9	8/9
SuperGPQA dataset	50	23/50	26/50
MMLU-Pro dataset	30	23/30	25/30

Specifications and pricing

From OpenRouter's catalogue, plus our test dates

Specification	Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B	Step 5 Preview
Creator	Qwen	StepFun
Released	12 Aug 2026	8 Oct 2026
Weights	Open weights	Open weights
Reasoning	Yes	Yes
Input	text	text, image, video
Output	text	text
Context window	1M tokens	1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff	—	—
List price in / out per 1M	$2 / $6	$1 / $2.7
Blended price per 1M (3:1)	$3.00	$1.43
Cheapest host	Novita · $2 / $6	InferenceNet · $1 / $2.7
Hosts on OpenRouter	5	4
Last tested	27 Oct 2026	27 Oct 2026

Compare any two models →

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: frequently asked questions

Is Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B better than Step 5 Preview?: On accuracy they are statistically tied: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B scored 57.5% and Step 5 Preview 63.8% on the same 80 questions from open datasets. Similar accuracy; Step 5 Preview costs less per question.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?: Step 5 Preview is cheaper: $0.0047 per question as billed, against $0.015. List prices: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B $2 in / $6 out, Step 5 Preview $1 in / $2.7 out per million tokens.
Which is faster, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?: Step 5 Preview is faster at 93 output tokens per second, against 44. Time to first token: 3.1 s for Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B, 0.6 s for Step 5 Preview.
Which has the larger context window, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?: Both accept about the same amount of context: 1M and 1M tokens.

Measure

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B

Step 5 Preview

Edge

Verification scoreHigher is better

57.5%

63.8%

Too close to call

Cost per questionLower is better

$0.015

$0.0047

Step 5 Preview

Output speedHigher is better

Step 5 Preview

Time to first tokenLower is better

3.1 s

0.6 s

Step 5 Preview

End-to-end response timeLower is better

14.8 s

8.2 s

Step 5 Preview

Tokens per questionLower is better

2,408

1,630

Step 5 Preview

Context windowHigher is better

Similar

Subject

Questions

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B

Step 5 Preview

Science

21/30

24/30

Engineering

5/15

6/15

Medicine

4/11

Economics

7/9

Law

2/6

Humanities & social science

7/9

8/9

SuperGPQA dataset

23/50

26/50

MMLU-Pro dataset

23/30

25/30

Specification

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B

Step 5 Preview

Creator

Qwen

StepFun

Released

12 Aug 2026

8 Oct 2026

Weights

Open weights

Reasoning

Yes

Input

text

text, image, video

Output

text

Context window

1M tokens

Knowledge cutoff

—

List price in / out per 1M

$2 / $6

$1 / $2.7

Blended price per 1M (3:1)

$3.00

$1.43

Cheapest host

Novita · $2 / $6

InferenceNet · $1 / $2.7

Hosts on OpenRouter

Last tested

27 Oct 2026

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: frequently asked questions

Is Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B better than Step 5 Preview?

On accuracy they are statistically tied: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B scored 57.5% and Step 5 Preview 63.8% on the same 80 questions from open datasets. Similar accuracy; Step 5 Preview costs less per question.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is cheaper: $0.0047 per question as billed, against $0.015. List prices: Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B $2 in / $6 out, Step 5 Preview $1 in / $2.7 out per million tokens.

Which is faster, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is faster at 93 output tokens per second, against 44. Time to first token: 3.1 s for Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B, 0.6 s for Step 5 Preview.

Which has the larger context window, Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B or Step 5 Preview?

Both accept about the same amount of context: 1M and 1M tokens.

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: accuracy, speed and price

Verdict

Which should you choose?

Head to head

Side by side

Every measure

Score vs. cost per question

Results by subject and dataset

Specifications and pricing

Related comparisons

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: frequently asked questions

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: accuracy, speed and price

Verdict

Which should you choose?

Head to head

Side by side

Every measure

Score vs. cost per question

Results by subject and dataset

Specifications and pricing

Related comparisons

Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B vs Step 5 Preview: frequently asked questions