Model comparison
GPT-4.1 mini vs Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 33.6 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-4.1 mini scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 42.6 to 24.1.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $1.60 for GPT-4.1 mini.
- GPT-4.1 mini accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 33.6 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2025-04-14 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | 256K |
| Max output | 33K | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.60 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 47 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 30.6 (#293), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1367 | 1436 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 23.9% | — |
| Aider Polyglot | 32.4% | — |
| SciCode | 40.4% | — |
| WeirdML | 37.6% | — |
| BigCodeBench Instruct | 48.9% | — |
| CadEval | 16% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
GPT-4.1 mini: 33.3 (#55), Step 3.5 Flash: —
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 50.5% | — |
Reasoning Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 10.8 (#340), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1349 | 1411 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 48.6% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 3.5% | — |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 7% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 7% | — |
| DTBench | 68.8% | — |
| LMCA | 21.1% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 135.01 | — |
Math Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 24.1 (#270), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1343 | 1408 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 6.7% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 44.7% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 49.1% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 87.3% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 4.5% | — |
Knowledge Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 34.7 (#194), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1338 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 65.8% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 12.7% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 78.3% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 61.4% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
GPT-4.1 mini: 35.8 (#82), Step 3.5 Flash: —
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1181 | — |
Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 45.7 (#166), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1318 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1329 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1358 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1351 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1290 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1298 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1324 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1319 | 1419 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
GPT-4.1 mini: 73.7 (#118), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1333 | 1385 |
| IFEval | 90.4% | — |
Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 31.8 (#275), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1344 | 1402 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 44.4% | — |
Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads
GPT-4.1 mini: 48.6 (#199), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1340 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1300 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1354 | 1405 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1147 | — |
| WildBench | 83.8% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-4.1 mini better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 33.6 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; GPT-4.1 mini lists at $0.40 and $1.60.
Is GPT-4.1 mini or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?
Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 30.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 mini does, with 1.05M tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks do GPT-4.1 mini and Step 3.5 Flash share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-4.1 mini has 47 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.