DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Step 5 Preview
Updated October 21, 2026. 11 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 37.6 for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp.
Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp when output tokens cost 4.2x less, or when what matters is LiveBench browser or LiveBench long agentic, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 11
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp only
- 3
- Step 5 Preview only
- 50
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview scores 71.4 against 37.6.
1 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 34.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp has a AA Agentic Index result, 47.5.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp $0.0005, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 37.6 from 1 benchmark, Step 5 Preview 71.4 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 28.6 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LiveBench coding: DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 37.6% against Step 5 Preview 85.6%, 48.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp $0.6468 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 4.2x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 2 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 4 | 7 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 37.6% | 85.6% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1567 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| AA Coding Index | 65.0 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 39.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SciCode | 49.7% | 58.9% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1485 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1473 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1583 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1556 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1550 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 34.8 | 43.7 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index21
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 47.5 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp measured |
| LiveBench research | 69.2% | 72.8% | Step 5 Preview |
| LiveBench browser | 64.0% | 24.0% | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp |
| LiveBench long agentic | 39.0% | 27.5% | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.7% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 27.3% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 57.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 29.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 85.4% | 83.8% | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 91.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 34.5% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1461 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1485 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1454 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1308 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1458 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1460 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1454 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1439 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1437 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1435 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench design | 70.7% | 76.9% | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | 79.5% | 63.5% | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 81.3% | 88.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1440 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1438 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1409 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1447 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1428 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1500 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1383 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1438 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1441 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1433 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1437 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1449 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1425 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1412 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1290 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1282 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | StepFun |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | August 21, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.2156 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.6468 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 37.6 | 71.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 37.6 for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp. Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp when output tokens cost 4.2x less, or when what matters is LiveBench browser or LiveBench long agentic, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or Step 5 Preview?
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs $0.2156 per million input tokens and $0.6468 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview costs $1.00 and $2.70. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or Step 5 Preview?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
11 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Step 5 Preview's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.