# Qwen Max vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/qwen-max-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in coding, where Step 5 Preview leads 50.6 to 30.3.
- Step 5 Preview is cheaper at $1 / $2.70 per million input/output tokens, against $1.60 / $6.40 for Qwen Max.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 33K.

## Snapshot

| | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 34.4 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 226 | 78 |
| Context | 33K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $1.60 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $6.40 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#288)
- Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Aider Polyglot | 21.8% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1569 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1288 | — |

## Reasoning

- Qwen Max: 24.1 (#154)
- Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1270 | — |

## Math

- Qwen Max: 21.0 (#272)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 16.1% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1275 | — |
| MATH Level 5 | 67.2% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 1% | — |

## Knowledge

- Qwen Max: 30.3 (#222)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 56.1% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1248 | — |

## Multilingual

- Qwen Max: 42.0 (#197)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1263 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1254 | — |
| LMArena French | 1329 | — |
| LMArena German | 1254 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1205 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1141 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1274 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1290 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Qwen Max: 66.7 (#203)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1262 | — |

## Long Context

- Qwen Max: 39.4 (#175)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Fiction.LiveBench | 66.7% | — |
| LMArena Longer Query | 1289 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Qwen Max: 48.0 (#200)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen Max | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1282 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1248 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1277 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Qwen Max better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 34.4 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Qwen Max or Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is cheaper. It lists at $1 per million input tokens and $2.70 per million output tokens; Qwen Max lists at $1.60 and $6.40.

### Is Qwen Max or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 30.3 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 33K.

### How many benchmarks do Qwen Max and Step 5 Preview share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen Max has 23 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.