# MiniMax-M2.7 vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 37.4 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.7 costs 2.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m2-7-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 3

## Summary

- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.7 scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 38.0 to 19.0.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is CritPt: 0.6% for MiniMax-M2.7 and 20.9% for Step 5 Preview.
- MiniMax-M2.7 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 205K.
- MiniMax-M2.7 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 37.4 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 188 | 78 |
| Context | 205K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $1.20 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- MiniMax-M2.7: 41.4 (#115)
- Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1397 | 1569 |
| SciCode | 47% | 58.9% |
| WeirdML | 37% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1454 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 599.25 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- MiniMax-M2.7: 24.9 (#103)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 45.1% | — |
| ExploitBench | 13.3% | — |
| GBAEval | 0% | — |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax-M2.7: 19.0 (#248)
- Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 0.6% | 20.9% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 24.7% | — |
| Thematic Generalization | 39.3% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1422 | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.84 | — |

## Math

- MiniMax-M2.7: 24.9 (#254)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | 3% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1420 | — |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax-M2.7: 37.1 (#151)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 12.9% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1443 | — |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax-M2.7: 50.5 (#120)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1382 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1439 | — |
| LMArena French | 1422 | — |
| LMArena German | 1398 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1261 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1313 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1383 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1403 | — |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax-M2.7: 74.2 (#101)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1404 | — |

## Long Context

- MiniMax-M2.7: 43.3 (#94)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1419 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax-M2.7: 59.1 (#107)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.7 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1404 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1354 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1413 | — |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax-M2.7 better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 37.4 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.7 costs 2.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.7 or Step 5 Preview?

MiniMax-M2.7 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.

### Is MiniMax-M2.7 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 41.4 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 205K.

### How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.7 and Step 5 Preview share?

3 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.7 has 30 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.