Model comparison
Grok 4.6 vs Step 5 Preview
Grok 4.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index. Step 5 Preview costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 3 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok 4.6 scores higher in 2 categories and Step 5 Preview in 0 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Grok 4.6 leads 61.3 to 38.0.
- Step 5 Preview is cheaper at $1 / $2.70 per million input/output tokens, against $2 / $6 for Grok 4.6.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 500K.
Side by side
| Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 56.8 | 43.8 |
| Released | 2026-08-12 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 500K | 1.02M |
| Max output | 500K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $2 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $6 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 49 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Grok 4.6 leads
Grok 4.6: 58.0 (#14), Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1620 | 1569 |
| SciCode | 56.5% | 58.9% |
| DeepSWE | 67.5% | — |
| FrontierCode | 48% | — |
| CursorBench | 41.4% | — |
| FrontierSWE | 25.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 67.3% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1464 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,508 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 39.4 (#25), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 65.3% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 17.2% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 9,047 | — |
Reasoning Grok 4.6 leads
Grok 4.6: 61.3 (#18), Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 19.7% | 20.9% |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 67.1% | — |
| SimpleBench | 75.9% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 80% | — |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 87.5% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 40% | — |
| EBR-Bench | 30.5% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1445 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 34% | — |
| DTBench | 97.3% | — |
| LMCA | 48.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 156.48 | — |
Math Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 66.8 (#19), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 66% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 31.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 99.2% | — |
| ProofBench | 51% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1416 | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 63.3 (#18), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 94% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 49.3% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1463 | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 43.9 (#18), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1265 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 33.2% | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 40% | — |
| LMArena Document | 1452 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 53.3 (#67), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1422 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1479 | — |
| LMArena French | 1458 | — |
| LMArena German | 1425 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1383 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1395 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1408 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 75.6 (#59), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1431 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 44.4 (#62), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1453 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Grok 4.6: 62.5 (#77), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Grok 4.6 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1430 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1422 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Grok 4.6 better than Step 5 Preview?
Grok 4.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index. Step 5 Preview costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Grok 4.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is cheaper. It lists at $1 per million input tokens and $2.70 per million output tokens; Grok 4.6 lists at $2 and $6.
Is Grok 4.6 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Grok 4.6 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 58.0 versus 50.6 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 500K.
How many benchmarks do Grok 4.6 and Step 5 Preview share?
3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok 4.6 has 49 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.