AI model comparison

Step 5 Preview vs Claude Haiku 5.5

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

Step 5 Preview is StepFun's flagship model for agentic work, built on a sparse Mixture-of-Experts architecture (27B active / 600B total parameters).

Input / 1M
$1
Output / 1M
$2.70
Context
1.05M

Claude Haiku 5.5 is Anthropic's small, fast model for high-volume, cost-sensitive work such as summarization, subagents, and browser use.

Input / 1M
$0.10
Output / 1M
$0.50
Context
1M

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

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Claude Haiku 5.5

7.4x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

stepfun logo

Step 5 Preview

43.7 vs 43.4 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

stepfun logo

Step 5 Preview

1.05M vs 1M tokens

Newer release

stepfun logo

Step 5 Preview

Released October 8, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview43.7
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.543.4

Coding index

stepfun logoStep 5 PreviewNot available
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5Not available

Agentic index

stepfun logoStep 5 PreviewNot available
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5Not available

Pricing

Step 5 Preview vs Claude Haiku 5.5 API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewanthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$1$0.10
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$2.70$0.50
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.05$0.01
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot available$0.13
Long-context pricingPer 1M tokens, for very long promptsSame rate at any length$0.50 in / $2.50 out above 100K
Web searchPer requestNot available$0.01

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$3.35
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5$0.45

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$40.80$12.30 cached
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5$5$2.30 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$155.40$12.90 cached
anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5$16$2.50 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewanthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5
Context window1.05M tokens1M tokens
Max output64K tokens128K tokens
Input typesImage, Text, VideoFile, Image, Text
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsHigh, Medium, LowMax, Extra high, High, Medium, Low
Default reasoning effortMediumMedium
Release dateOctober 8, 2026October 7, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewanthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedNot supported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedNot supported
Verbosity controlNot supportedSupported

Our take

Claude Haiku 5.5 is 7.4x cheaper for a typical chat. Step 5 Preview scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (43.7 vs 43.4). Step 5 Preview has the larger context window (1.05M vs 1M tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Step 5 Preview or Claude Haiku 5.5 cheaper?

Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens, while Step 5 Preview costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Step 5 Preview or Claude Haiku 5.5?

Step 5 Preview supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Claude Haiku 5.5.

Is Step 5 Preview smarter than Claude Haiku 5.5?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Step 5 Preview scores 43.7 and Claude Haiku 5.5 scores 43.4, putting Step 5 Preview ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Step 5 Preview and Claude Haiku 5.5 at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Step 5 Preview and Claude Haiku 5.5 answer side by side and keep the better response.

stepfun logoanthropic logo

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Step 5 Preview and Claude Haiku 5.5 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.