Model comparison
Qwen Plus vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Plus costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)
StepFunSummary
- They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen Plus scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 5 Preview leads 46.1 to 23.3.
- Qwen Plus is cheaper at $0.40 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 1M.
Side by side
| Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 37.1 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2024-01-25 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 1.02M |
| Max output | 33K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.40 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.20 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 20 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 38.9 (#167), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1328 | 1480 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 28.4 (#107), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1317 | 1465 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 63.3% | — |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| DTBench | 81.1% | — |
| LMCA | 24% | — |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 23.3 (#271), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1326 | 1470 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 17.8% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
| MATH Level 5 | 65.3% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1.7% | — |
Knowledge Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 27.4 (#251), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1328 | 1470 |
| GPQA Diamond | 48.1% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Qwen Plus: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 45.1 (#175), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1310 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1347 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1323 | 1436 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1251 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1439 |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 68.8 (#181), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1303 | 1444 |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 40.3 (#158), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1324 | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen Plus: 52.2 (#176), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | Qwen Plus | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1326 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1293 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1336 | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen Plus better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Plus costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Qwen Plus or Step 5 Preview?
Qwen Plus is cheaper. It lists at $0.40 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Qwen Plus or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 38.9 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do Qwen Plus and Step 5 Preview share?
12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen Plus has 20 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.