GPT-4o vs Step 5 Preview
Updated October 21, 2026. 2 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
GPT-4o scores 38.8 and Step 5 Preview 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking.
Pick Step 5 Preview when output tokens cost 3.7x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 128K tokens.
- Shared results
- 2
- GPT-4o only
- 24
- Step 5 Preview only
- 59
- Like-for-like categories
- 2 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
No call
38.8 against 71.4, from different benchmarks with none in common.
Directional only
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Step 5 Preview has a AA Intelligence Index result, 43.7.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only GPT-4o has a Design Arena: websites result, 831.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Step 5 Preview
GPT-4o $0.0075, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- GPT-4o 38.8 from 1 benchmark, Step 5 Preview 71.4 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Reasoning, 44.1 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run): GPT-4o 2.4% against Step 5 Preview 46.5%, 44.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GPT-4o $10.00 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 3.7x apart.
- Context window
- GPT-4o takes 128K 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 | GPT-4o | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 2 |
CodingDirectional onlyFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index19 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 38.8% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | 38.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| SWE-bench (full test set) | 18.8% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal | 30.4% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1567 | Only Step 5 Preview 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 |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 30.9% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 8.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| 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 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 43.7 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 25.1% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| GDPval | 9.9% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) | 54.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 2.4% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| ARC-AGI | 4.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| 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 10 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 6.0 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| 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 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 74.8% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| MMLU | 88.1% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| 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 11 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 831 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 885 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 906 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 858 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 869 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 861 | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | 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 | 34.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 49.3% | 88.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| DTBench | 64.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| LMCA | 16.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-4o measured |
| 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 23 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | 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
Step 5 Preview costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Step 5 Preview costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Step 5 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 | OpenAI GPT-4o | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | OpenAI | StepFun |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | May 13, 2024 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 128K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $2.50 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $10.00 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 38.8 | 71.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GPT-4o better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
GPT-4o scores 38.8 and Step 5 Preview 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking. Pick Step 5 Preview when output tokens cost 3.7x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 128K tokens.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4o or Step 5 Preview?
GPT-4o costs $2.50 per million input tokens and $10.00 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, GPT-4o or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks is the GPT-4o vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
2 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. GPT-4o'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.