Model comparison
Qwen Turbo vs Step 3.5 Flash
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 27.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Turbo costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)
StepFunSummary
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 42.6 to 15.3.
- Qwen Turbo is cheaper at $0.05 / $0.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.10 / $0.30 for Step 3.5 Flash.
- Qwen Turbo accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 27.1 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2024-11-01 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 256K |
| Max output | 16K | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.05 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.20 | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 3 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | — | 1436 |
Reasoning Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1411 |
Math Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Turbo: 15.3 (#297), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 6.1% | — |
| LMArena Math | — | 1408 |
| MATH Level 5 | 56.2% | — |
Knowledge Step 3.5 Flash leads
Qwen Turbo: 22.2 (#272), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 41.8% | — |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1421 |
Multilingual Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1447 |
| LMArena French | — | 1421 |
| LMArena German | — | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1419 |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1385 |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1402 |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Qwen Turbo: —, Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | Qwen Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1405 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen Turbo better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 27.1 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Turbo costs 1.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 3.5 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Qwen Turbo or Step 3.5 Flash?
Qwen Turbo is cheaper. It lists at $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens; Step 3.5 Flash lists at $0.10 and $0.30.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen Turbo does, with 1M tokens against 256K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen Turbo and Step 3.5 Flash share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen Turbo has 3 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.