Model comparison
GPT-4.1 nano vs Step 3
Step 3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.5 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 15 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-4.1 nano scores higher in 0 categories and Step 3 in 9 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 3 leads 28.4 to 8.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Kagi LLM Benchmark: 33.3% for GPT-4.1 nano and 62.3% for Step 3.
- Step 3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 27.9 | 40.5 |
| Released | 2025-04-14 | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | — |
| Max output | 33K | — |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.10 | — |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.40 | — |
| Results tracked | 38 | 17 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 24.1 (#330), Step 3: 40.1 (#147)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1306 | 1367 |
| Aider Polyglot | 8.9% | — |
| SciCode | 25.9% | — |
| WeirdML | 19% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
GPT-4.1 nano: 26.5 (#104), Step 3: —
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | 33% | — |
Reasoning Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 8.5 (#349), Step 3: 28.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 33.3% | 62.3% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1286 | 1355 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 0% | — |
| CritPt | 0% | — |
| DTBench | 52.5% | — |
| LMCA | 5.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 129.62 | — |
Math Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 26.9 (#252), Step 3: 37.6 (#148)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1274 | 1366 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 28.9% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 36.7% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 70% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1% | — |
Knowledge Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 21.8 (#273), Step 3: 36.8 (#164)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1272 | 1333 |
| GPQA Diamond | 48.9% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 6% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 55% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 50.7% | — |
Multimodal Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 29.2 (#113), Step 3: 35.5 (#86)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1063 | 1177 |
Multilingual Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 41.6 (#205), Step 3: 46.3 (#159)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1260 | 1327 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1270 | 1397 |
| LMArena German | 1288 | 1371 |
| LMArena Russian | 1261 | 1331 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1198 | — |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1269 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1371 |
Instruction Following Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 67.8 (#193), Step 3: 70.4 (#164)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1267 | 1332 |
| IFEval | 84.3% | — |
Long Context Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 23.7 (#296), Step 3: 40.3 (#157)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1283 | 1326 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 25% | — |
Writing & Preference Step 3 leads
GPT-4.1 nano: 40.5 (#243), Step 3: 54.3 (#151)
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 nano | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1285 | 1350 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1260 | 1321 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1277 | 1341 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 946 | — |
| WildBench | 81.2% | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-4.1 nano better than Step 3?
Step 3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.5 to 27.9 on the Noometry Index.
Is GPT-4.1 nano or Step 3 better for coding?
Step 3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 24.1 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do GPT-4.1 nano and Step 3 share?
15 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-4.1 nano has 38 scored results on Noometry and Step 3 has 17.