Model comparison

Qwen3.6 27B vs Step 5 Preview

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 42.2 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified October 10, 2026. 2 shared benchmarks.

Qwen3.6 27B

Alibaba (Qwen)

42.2

Rank #117 Confirmed

Step 5 Preview

StepFun

47.9

Rank #58 Confirmed

Summary

They share 2 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3.6 27B scores higher in 2 categories and Step 5 Preview in 3 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 25.0.
The biggest single-benchmark swing is SciCode: 37.3% for Qwen3.6 27B and 58.9% for Step 5 Preview.
Qwen3.6 27B 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.
Qwen3.6 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Qwen3.6 27B and Step 5 Preview specifications
	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
Provider	Alibaba (Qwen)	StepFun
Noometry Index	42.2	47.9
Released	2026-04-22	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	11	18

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Category by category

Coding Step 5 Preview leads

Qwen3.6 27B: 39.1 (#163), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)

Coding benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
SciCode	37.3%	58.9%
LMArena WebDev	—	1564
LMArena Coding	—	1480

Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads

Qwen3.6 27B: 25.0 (#153), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)

Reasoning benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
CritPt	0.9%	20.9%
Chess Puzzles	22%	—
LMArena Hard Prompts	—	1465
Mystery Game Puzzles	7%	—
DTBench	78.1%	—
LMCA	34.5%	—
Epoch Capabilities Index	146.5	—

Math Qwen3.6 27B leads

Qwen3.6 27B: 48.5 (#62), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)

Math benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)	35.1%	—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025	91.1%	—
ProofBench	—	42%
LMArena Math	—	1470

Knowledge Qwen3.6 27B leads

Qwen3.6 27B: 52.4 (#63), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)

Knowledge benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
GPQA Diamond	85.9%	—
LMArena Expert	—	1470

Multimodal Not comparable

Qwen3.6 27B: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)

Multimodal benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
LMArena Vision	—	1267

Multilingual Not comparable

Qwen3.6 27B: —, Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)

Multilingual benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
LMArena Non-English	—	1432
LMArena Chinese	—	1519
LMArena Russian	—	1436
LMArena Spanish	—	1439

Instruction Following Not comparable

Qwen3.6 27B: —, Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)

Instruction Following benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
LMArena Instruction Following	—	1444

Long Context Not comparable

Qwen3.6 27B: —, Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)

Long Context benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
LMArena Longer Query	—	1455

Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads

Qwen3.6 27B: 50.3 (#181), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
Benchmark	Qwen3.6 27B	Step 5 Preview
LMArena Text	—	1442
LMArena Creative Writing	—	1410
EQ-Bench 4	1026	—
LMArena Multi-Turn	—	1447

Frequently asked questions

Is Qwen3.6 27B better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 42.2 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 27B or Step 5 Preview?

Qwen3.6 27B 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 Qwen3.6 27B or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 39.1 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 Qwen3.6 27B and Step 5 Preview share?

2 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.6 27B has 11 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.