Step 5 Preview is $3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
🔥Claude Opus 5.5 vs 🔥Step 5 Preview
Pick Step 5 Preview when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Step 5 Preview when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 5 Preview is estimated at $2.35 vs $14 for Claude Opus 5.5, saving $11.65 (83.2% lower).
Cost-first pickStep 5 Preview
Context-first pickStep 5 Preview
Sample savings$11.6583.2%
10x traffic gap$116.5
Step 5 Preview is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $116.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Step 5 Preview stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Claude Opus 5.5 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Step 5 Preview | $30 | $6.35 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Step 5 Preview | $24 | $3.7 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Step 5 Preview | $104 | $14.5 |
Step 5 Preview is $17.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (86.5% lower; 7.41x difference).
Step 5 Preview has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).
Step 5 Preview is $11.65 cheaper on the standard workload (83.2% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Step 5 Preview has the lower input price; Step 5 Preview has the lower output price; Step 5 Preview offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Step 5 Preview is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $14 for Claude Opus 5.5 and $2.35 for Step 5 Preview.
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Step 5 Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 5 Preview is estimated at $2.35 vs $14 for Claude Opus 5.5, saving $11.65 (83.2% lower).
- Step 5 Preview is $11.65 cheaper on the standard workload (83.2% lower).
- Step 5 Preview is $3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).
- Step 5 Preview is $17.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (86.5% lower; 7.41x difference).
- Step 5 Preview has 48.58K more context (1.05x larger).
| Feature | 🔥Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) | 🔥Step 5 Preview (StepFun) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $4 | $1 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $20 | $2.7 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $14 | $2.35 |
| Context Window | 1M | 1.05M |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #6 | #8 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Step 5 Preview | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 5 Preview is estimated at $2.35 vs $14 for Claude Opus 5.5, saving $11.65 (83.2% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Step 5 Preview | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Step 5 Preview | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Step 5 Preview | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Claude Haiku 5.5 (batch) can replace Claude Opus 5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.17.
- Claude Haiku 5.5 can replace Claude Opus 5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.35.
- Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Opus 5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.35.
- Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Opus 5.5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #2
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 · DeepSeek · #3
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
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Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
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Open provider hubsAnthropic catalog
Review all tracked Anthropic models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Anthropic modelsStepFun catalog
Check other StepFun models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open StepFun modelsClaude Opus 5.5 is Anthropic's flagship model for demanding reasoning, coding, and long-horizon agentic work, succeeding Claude Opus 5. It is particularly strong at multi-step changes in large codebases, code...
Step 5 Preview is StepFun's flagship model for agentic work, built on a sparse Mixture-of-Experts architecture (27B active / 600B total parameters). It performs strongly in software engineering and professional...