# Qwen3.8 27B vs Step 5 Preview

> Qwen3.8 27B is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.3 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/qwen3-8-27b-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 3

## Summary

- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Qwen3.8 27B scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 2 categories; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 38.0 to 31.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is CritPt: 5.4% for Qwen3.8 27B and 20.9% for Step 5 Preview.
- Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper at $0.99 / $1.49 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 262K.
- Qwen3.8 27B has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 45.3 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 64 | 78 |
| Context | 262K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.99 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $1.49 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Qwen3.8 27B: 50.3 (#42)
- Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1592 | 1569 |
| SciCode | 46.6% | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1487 | — |

## Reasoning

- Qwen3.8 27B: 31.5 (#71)
- Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 5.4% | 20.9% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 54.5% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1459 | — |
| DTBench | 88% | — |
| LMCA | 41.4% | — |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 45% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 149.38 | — |

## Math

- Qwen3.8 27B: 35.7 (#139)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | 16% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1453 | — |

## Knowledge

- Qwen3.8 27B: 40.9 (#105)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1482 | — |

## Multimodal

- Qwen3.8 27B: 40.5 (#36)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1270 | — |

## Multilingual

- Qwen3.8 27B: 54.0 (#54)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1431 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1504 | — |
| LMArena French | 1468 | — |
| LMArena German | 1435 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1392 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1389 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1421 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1444 | — |

## Instruction Following

- Qwen3.8 27B: 75.8 (#54)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1436 | — |

## Long Context

- Qwen3.8 27B: 44.3 (#66)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1448 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- Qwen3.8 27B: 65.9 (#41)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | Qwen3.8 27B | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1441 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1382 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1671 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1443 | — |

## FAQ

### Is Qwen3.8 27B better than Step 5 Preview?

Qwen3.8 27B is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.3 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 27B or Step 5 Preview?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.99 per million input tokens and $1.49 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.

### Is Qwen3.8 27B or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (50.3 vs 50.6); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 262K.

### How many benchmarks do Qwen3.8 27B and Step 5 Preview share?

3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.8 27B has 28 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.