Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads Nemotron 3.5 Super VL on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 43.7 to 26.5, and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs 5.4x less per output token ($0.50 vs $2.70 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 11 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL or Step 5 Preview: which to pick
Only Step 5 Preview has a coding score, 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nemotron 3.5 Super VL for output tokens 5.4x cheaper ($0.50 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LiveBench data analysis, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 11
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL only
- 5
- Step 5 Preview only
- 50
- 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
No call
Only Step 5 Preview has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 26.5.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL has a Design Arena: websites result, 1172.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL $0.0004, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL not benchmarked, Step 5 Preview 61.1 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Intelligence, 17.2 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- LiveBench coding: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 65.5% against Step 5 Preview 85.6%, 20.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL $0.50 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 5.4x 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 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 3 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 10 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 65.5% | 85.6% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 |
| SciCode | 47.8% | 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 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 26.5 | 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 index03
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | 70.9% | 72.8% | Step 5 Preview |
| LiveBench browser | 4.0% | 24.0% | Step 5 Preview |
| LiveBench long agentic | 15.8% | 27.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| 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 30 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 78.8% | 83.8% | Step 5 Preview |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 30.7% | 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 14 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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 14 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1172 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1153 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1110 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1127 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1155 | Not measured | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| LiveBench design | 60.7% | 76.9% | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | 64.6% | 63.5% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 69.0% | 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 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | StepFun |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 15, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.50 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 61.1 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nemotron 3.5 Super VL better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Only Step 5 Preview has a coding score, 61.1 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nemotron 3.5 Super VL for output tokens 5.4x cheaper ($0.50 vs $2.70 per million) and work measured by LiveBench data analysis, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL or Step 5 Preview?
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 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, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL or Step 5 Preview?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
11 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Nemotron 3.5 Super VL's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Step 5 Preview's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.