Model comparison
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B vs Step 5 Preview
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.7 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 1 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)
StepFunSummary
- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. Qwen3.5 397B-A17B scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where Step 5 Preview leads 50.6 to 41.7.
- Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is cheaper at $0.60 / $3.60 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 262K.
- Qwen3.5 397B-A17B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 45.7 | 43.8 |
| Released | 2026-02-01 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 262K | 1.02M |
| Max output | 66K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.60 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3.60 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 36 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 41.7 (#108), Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1400 | 1569 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1464 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 33.2 (#51), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 24.9% | — |
| τ²-bench Airline | 81.5% | — |
| τ²-bench Banking | 9.8% | — |
| τ²-bench Retail | 84.4% | — |
| τ²-bench Telecom | 97.8% | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 33.6 (#62), Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 73.7% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 58.9% | — |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| Chess Puzzles | 13% | — |
| Thematic Generalization | 65.1% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1448 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 18% | — |
| DTBench | 87.5% | — |
| LMCA | 37.9% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.64 | — |
Math Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 44.9 (#64), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 31.2% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 88.9% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1455 | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 53.3 (#53), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 86.4% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1461 | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 40.0 (#42), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1262 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 54.0 (#56), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1431 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1501 | — |
| LMArena French | 1461 | — |
| LMArena German | 1447 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1382 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1429 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1443 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 75.2 (#73), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1424 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 44.1 (#71), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1442 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: 62.5 (#74), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | Qwen3.5 397B-A17B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1438 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1401 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1478 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1447 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen3.5 397B-A17B better than Step 5 Preview?
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.7 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B or Step 5 Preview?
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is cheaper. It lists at $0.60 per million input tokens and $3.60 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is Qwen3.5 397B-A17B or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 41.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do Qwen3.5 397B-A17B and Step 5 Preview share?
1 benchmark has published results for both models. Qwen3.5 397B-A17B has 36 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.