GLM 4.6 vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads GLM 4.6 on coding, 61.1 to 8.8 on the Vibe Coding Index, and GLM 4.6 costs 1.2x less per output token ($2.20 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 31 benchmarks have a result for both.
GLM 4.6 or Step 5 Preview: which to pick
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.8 for GLM 4.6.
Pick GLM 4.6 for output tokens 1.2x cheaper ($2.20 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: science or LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 31
- GLM 4.6 only
- 38
- Step 5 Preview only
- 30
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 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 8.8.
2 and 4 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 18.5.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only GLM 4.6 has a GPQA Diamond result, 74.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only GLM 4.6 has a AIME result, 92.7%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only GLM 4.6 has a MMLU Pro result, 82.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GLM 4.6 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1174.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 4.6
GLM 4.6 $0.0017, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- GLM 4.6 8.8 from 2 benchmarks, Step 5 Preview 61.1 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 28.6 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI): GLM 4.6 3.1% against Step 5 Preview 70.4%, 67.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GLM 4.6 $2.20 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 1.2x apart.
- Context window
- GLM 4.6 takes 205K tokens, Step 5 Preview 1.05M.
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 | GLM 4.6 | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 5 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 4 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 3 | 1 | ||
| General | 4 | 11 | ||
| All shared boards | 7 | 24 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index05
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 68.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1341 | 1567 | Step 5 Preview |
| AA Coding Index | 45.8 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 81.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 3.1% | 70.4% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 69.5% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 28.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 24.5% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 340.8 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1449 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1455 | 1473 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1583 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1350 | 1556 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1550 | Only Step 5 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 | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 18.5 | 43.7 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index18 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1029 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1096 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1084 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | 1180 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 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) | 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 |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 76.9% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 72.4% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| BrowseComp-Plus | 48.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 74.5% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 78.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 14.5% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1440 | 1461 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1432 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1445 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1308 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 45.7% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 92.7% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 89.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| AA Math Index | 86.0 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 86.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1432 | 1458 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1447 | 1460 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index31
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 82.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 79.6% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 56.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 66.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 92.2% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.9% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1456 | 1454 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1455 | 1439 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1448 | 1437 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1416 | 1435 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1174 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1148 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1151 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1161 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1129 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1166 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1109 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index411
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | 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 |
| IFBench | 43.4% | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 54.0% | 88.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text | 1440 | 1440 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1410 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1412 | 1409 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1449 | 1447 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1426 | 1428 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1499 | 1500 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: German | 1447 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1393 | 1383 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1400 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1459 | 1438 | GLM 4.6 |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1436 | 1441 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1418 | 1433 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1447 | Not measured | Only GLM 4.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1427 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1422 | 1449 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1415 | 1425 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1409 | 1412 | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 22 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 4.6 | 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
GLM 4.6 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
GLM 4.6 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
GLM 4.6 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 | Z.ai GLM 4.6 | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Z.ai | StepFun |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | September 30, 2025 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 205K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.20 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 8.8 | 61.1 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GLM 4.6 better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.8 for GLM 4.6. Pick GLM 4.6 for output tokens 1.2x cheaper ($2.20 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LMArena Text: science or LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, GLM 4.6 or Step 5 Preview?
GLM 4.6 costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.20 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, GLM 4.6 or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the GLM 4.6 vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
31 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. GLM 4.6's coding index rests on 2 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.