Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview on coding, 61.1 to 22.7 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs 1.8x less per output token ($1.50 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 41 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Step 5 Preview: which to pick
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.7 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview.
Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview for output tokens 1.8x cheaper ($1.50 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Vision: homework or LMArena Text: Japanese, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 41
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only
- 38
- Step 5 Preview only
- 20
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
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, six public coding benchmarks
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview scores 61.1 against 22.7.
3 and 4 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 15.6.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.6.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 81.1%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AIME result, 83.3%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 86.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a Design Arena: websites result, 1083.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.0010, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has the number, $0.18.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 22.7 from 3 benchmarks, Step 5 Preview 61.1 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 39.0 points apart on average over 8 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 0.0% against Step 5 Preview 70.4%, 70.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $1.50 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 1.8x 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 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 8 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 4 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 4 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 1 | 16 | ||
| All shared boards | 2 | 39 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index08
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1257 | 1567 | Step 5 Preview |
| AA Coding Index | 34.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 80.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 62.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 70.4% | Step 5 Preview |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 4.6% | 39.0% | Step 5 Preview |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| ALE-Bench | 797.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1400 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1413 | 1473 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1245 | 1583 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1276 | 1556 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1336 | 1550 | Step 5 Preview |
| SciCode | 4.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 15.6 | 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 index04
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.6 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 72.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 27.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 30.0% | 50.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 3.1% | 27.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 3.4% | 40.4% | Step 5 Preview |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 8.6% | 57.1% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 29 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 81.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 82.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 46.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1407 | 1461 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1398 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1403 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1242 | 1308 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1271 | 1265 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1428 | 1458 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1417 | 1460 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 86.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 59.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 47.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1425 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1428 | 1439 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1418 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1389 | 1435 | Step 5 Preview |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 51.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1083 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1072 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1029 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1045 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1048 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1072 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1052 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1167 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index116
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 63.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 49.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 63.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 41.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 88.3% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text | 1416 | 1440 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1377 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1401 | 1409 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision | 1240 | 1265 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: English | 1414 | 1447 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1410 | 1428 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1460 | 1500 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: German | 1430 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1413 | 1383 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1392 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1424 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1421 | 1441 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1420 | 1433 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1443 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1417 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1394 | 1449 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1408 | 1425 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1386 | 1412 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1232 | 1290 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1278 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1246 | 1282 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1266 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1259 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1308 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1248 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | 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
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 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 | Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | StepFun | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | March 3, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.25 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.50 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 22.7 | 61.1 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.18 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 22.7 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview. Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview for output tokens 1.8x cheaper ($1.50 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Vision: homework or LMArena Text: Japanese, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Step 5 Preview?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview costs $1.00 and $2.70. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or Step 5 Preview?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
41 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Step 5 Preview's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.