AI model comparison
Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
StepFun
Step 5 Preview
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
Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is an updated snapshot of Qwen3.8 Max from Alibaba's Qwen team.
- Input / 1M
- $2
- Output / 1M
- $6
- Context
- 1M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Step 5 Preview
2.1x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
45.4 vs 43.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Step 5 Preview
1.05M vs 1M tokens
Newer release
Step 5 Preview
Released October 8, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)45.4Coding index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)76.2Agentic index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)56Pricing
Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902) API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $1 | $2 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $2.70 | $6 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.05 | $0.25 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
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
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$7Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$84$31.50 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$312$49.50 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 64K tokens | 131K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text, Video | Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Medium, Low | Extra high, High, Medium, Low, Minimal |
| Default reasoning effort | Medium | Extra high |
| Release date | October 8, 2026 | September 3, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
- Step 5 Preview vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
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- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5.5
- Step 5 Preview vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Step 5 Preview vs GLM 5.3
- Step 5 Preview vs Hy3
- Step 5 Preview vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Step 5 Preview vs Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor
- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Step 5 Preview vs Kimi K3
- Step 5 Preview vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Haiku 5.5
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- Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Step 5 Preview vs GPT-6 Astra
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- Step 5 Preview vs Muse Spark 1.3
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- Step 5 Preview vs GPT-5.6 Sol
- Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.7
- Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.6
- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Step 5 Preview vs GPT-5.6 Terra
- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 4.8
- Step 5 Preview vs Ling 3.1 Flash
- Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 4.7
- Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B
- Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 3.7 Flash
- Step 5 Preview vs Muse Spark 1.2
- Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.5
- Step 5 Preview vs Qwen3.8 27B
- Step 5 Preview vs Mistral Large 4
- Step 5 Preview vs Muse Spark 1.1
- Step 5 Preview vs GLM 5.3 FlashX
- Step 5 Preview vs GPT-5.6 Luna Pro
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)View full model details- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Muse Spark 1.3
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-6 Sol
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GPT-5.6 Sol
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Grok 4.7
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs MiMo-V2.6-Pro
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs GLM 5.3
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Grok 4.6
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Kimi K3
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B
Our take
Step 5 Preview is 2.1x cheaper for a typical chat. Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (45.4 vs 43.7). 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 Qwen3.8 Max (0902) cheaper?
Step 5 Preview is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Step 5 Preview costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens, while Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $6 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Step 5 Preview or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Step 5 Preview supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Qwen3.8 Max (0902).
Is Step 5 Preview smarter than Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Step 5 Preview scores 43.7 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 45.4, putting Qwen3.8 Max (0902) ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Step 5 Preview and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Step 5 Preview and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Step 5 Preview and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.