Model comparison
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs 2.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
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StepFunSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher in 1 category and Step 5 Preview in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 22.9.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is CritPt: 1.1% for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and 20.9% for Step 5 Preview.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper at $0.25 / $1.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1.02M.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | StepFun | |
| Noometry Index | 40.8 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2026-03-03 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.02M |
| Max output | 66K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.25 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.50 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 38 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 37.8 (#188), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1256 | 1564 |
| SciCode | 41.9% | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1400 | 1480 |
| WeirdML | 52.2% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 797.73 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 30.2 (#79), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| DeepResearch Bench | 37.3% | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 22.9 (#186), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 1.1% | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1407 | 1465 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 67.2% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 8.2% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 25% | — |
| EnigmaEval | 3% | — |
| Thematic Generalization | 63.3% | — |
| DTBench | 76.8% | — |
| LMCA | 35% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 144.47 | — |
| ForecastBench | 54.4 | — |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 40.7 (#90), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1428 | 1470 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 27.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 80% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
Knowledge Too close to call
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 41.9 (#104), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1398 | 1470 |
| GPQA Diamond | 81.8% | — |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 8.6% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 8.2% | — |
Multimodal Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 39.4 (#60), Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1240 | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 52.3 (#86), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1411 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1461 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1420 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1421 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1424 | — |
| LMArena German | 1429 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1413 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1392 | — |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 72.7 (#131), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1377 | 1444 |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 42.5 (#122), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1394 | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: 60.9 (#94), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1416 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1417 | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.8 on the Noometry Index. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs 2.5× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Step 5 Preview?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 37.8 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite does, with 1.05M tokens against 1.02M.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Step 5 Preview share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has 38 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.