# Grok-2 (Dec 2024) vs Step 3

> Step 3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.5 to 33.7 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/grok-2-vs-step-3
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 15

## Summary

- They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok-2 (Dec 2024) scores higher in 0 categories and Step 3 in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3 leads 37.6 to 20.8.
- Step 3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 33.7 | 40.5 |
| Rank | 239 | 149 |
| Context | — | — |
| Input $/M | — | — |
| Output $/M | — | — |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 33.3 (#258)
- Step 3: 40.1 (#147)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1287 | 1367 |
| WeirdML | 22.2% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | 46.4% | — |

## Reasoning

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 16.9 (#299)
- Step 3: 28.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1272 | 1355 |
| SimpleBench | 22.7% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 62.3% |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 54.8% | — |
| DTBench | 65.2% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 54.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 130.48 | — |
| LiveBench | 54.3% | — |

## Math

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 20.8 (#284)
- Step 3: 37.6 (#148)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1283 | 1366 |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 11.5% | — |
| LiveBench Math | 54.9% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 63.5% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 0.7% | — |

## Knowledge

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 29.8 (#233)
- Step 3: 36.8 (#164)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1254 | 1333 |
| GPQA Diamond | 53.8% | — |
| Confabulations | 20.1% | — |

## Multimodal

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): —
- Step 3: 35.5 (#86)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1177 |

## Multilingual

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 43.1 (#188)
- Step 3: 46.3 (#159)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1282 | 1327 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1289 | 1397 |
| LMArena German | 1287 | 1371 |
| LMArena Korean | 1237 | 1269 |
| LMArena Russian | 1286 | 1331 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1281 | 1371 |
| LMArena French | 1318 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1244 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 66.9 (#202)
- Step 3: 70.4 (#164)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1270 | 1332 |
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 69.6% | — |

## Long Context

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 38.8 (#190)
- Step 3: 40.3 (#157)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1276 | 1326 |

## Writing & Preference

- Grok-2 (Dec 2024): 48.6 (#198)
- Step 3: 54.3 (#151)

| Benchmark | Grok-2 (Dec 2024) | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1305 | 1350 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1284 | 1321 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1290 | 1341 |
| Short-Story Creative Writing | 63.6% | — |
| LiveBench Language | 45.6% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Grok-2 (Dec 2024) better than Step 3?

Step 3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 40.5 to 33.7 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Grok-2 (Dec 2024) or Step 3 better for coding?

Step 3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.1 versus 33.3 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Grok-2 (Dec 2024) and Step 3 share?

15 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok-2 (Dec 2024) has 34 scored results on Noometry and Step 3 has 17.