Model comparison
Qwen3.6 Flash vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 38.8 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.6 Flash costs 3.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)
StepFunSummary
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 29.0.
- Qwen3.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.19 / $1.13 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
| Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 38.8 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2026-04-27 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 1.02M |
| Max output | 66K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.19 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.13 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 13 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1480 |
| ALE-Bench | 326.4 | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen3.6 Flash: 29.0 (#96), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| SimpleBench | 35.2% | — |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| Chess Puzzles | 20% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1465 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 18% | — |
| DTBench | 77.1% | — |
| LMCA | 31% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 143.26 | — |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
Qwen3.6 Flash: 39.0 (#117), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 22.5% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 84.4% | — |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
| LMArena Math | — | 1470 |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 10.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | 0% | — |
Knowledge Too close to call
Qwen3.6 Flash: 42.1 (#100), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 83.3% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 15.9% | — |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1470 |
Multimodal Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |
Multilingual Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1439 |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1444 |
Long Context Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Qwen3.6 Flash: —, Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen3.6 Flash better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 38.8 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.6 Flash costs 3.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Flash or Step 5 Preview?
Qwen3.6 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.19 per million input tokens and $1.13 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do Qwen3.6 Flash and Step 5 Preview share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.6 Flash has 13 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.