# Grok-3 mini vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 41.2 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/grok-3-mini-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Grok-3 mini scores higher in 2 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 6 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 22.2 to 13.6.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 41.2 | 42.3 |
| Rank | 141 | 116 |
| Context | — | 256K |
| Input $/M | — | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | — | $0.30 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Grok-3 mini: 40.8 (#131)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1379 | 1436 |
| Aider Polyglot | 49.3% | — |
| WeirdML | 42.6% | — |

## Reasoning

- Grok-3 mini: 13.6 (#334)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1375 | 1411 |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0.4% | — |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 61.3% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| ARC-AGI-1 | 16.5% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 140.35 | — |

## Math

- Grok-3 mini: 42.1 (#85)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1386 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 77.8% | — |
| Omni-MATH | 31.8% | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 90.9% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 5.9% | — |

## Knowledge

- Grok-3 mini: 46.4 (#81)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1395 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 76.3% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | 79.9% | — |
| Confabulations | 10.8% | — |
| GPQA (HELM) | 67.5% | — |

## Multilingual

- Grok-3 mini: 48.1 (#145)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1352 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1387 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1357 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1349 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1342 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1335 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1353 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1381 | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Grok-3 mini: 78.5 (#9)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1357 | 1385 |
| IFEval | 95.1% | — |

## Long Context

- Grok-3 mini: 41.0 (#147)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1372 | 1402 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 66.7% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Grok-3 mini: 52.5 (#169)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

| Benchmark | Grok-3 mini | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1370 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1342 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1355 | 1405 |
| Short-Story Creative Writing | 73.5% | — |
| WildBench | 65.1% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Grok-3 mini better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 41.2 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Grok-3 mini or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 40.8 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Grok-3 mini and Step 3.5 Flash share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Grok-3 mini has 35 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.