API cost decision in 10 seconds

New🔥Step 5 Preview vs Grok 4.7

Pick Step 5 Preview when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-10-08T13:07:27Z Data confirmed: 2026-10-15T01:07:46Z 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 $5 for Grok 4.7, saving $2.65 (53% lower).

Cost-first pickStep 5 Preview

Context-first pickStep 5 Preview

Sample savings$2.6553%

10x traffic gap$26.5

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 $26.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Step 5 Preview stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Step 5 Preview	Grok 4.7
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Step 5 Preview	$6.35	$13
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Step 5 Preview	$3.7	$8
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Step 5 Preview	$14.5	$32

Cheaper input Step 5 Preview $1 vs $2 / 1M

Step 5 Preview is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (50% lower; 2x difference).

Cheaper output Step 5 Preview $2.7 vs $6 / 1M

Step 5 Preview is $3.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (55% lower; 2.22x difference).

Larger context Step 5 Preview 1M vs 500K

Step 5 Preview has 500K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Step 5 Preview $2.35 vs $5

Step 5 Preview is $2.65 cheaper on the standard workload (53% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Step 5 Preview Calculating… Estimated API cost

Grok 4.7 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

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 $2.35 for Step 5 Preview and $5 for Grok 4.7.

Best Fit

Choose Step 5 Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Grok 4.7 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 5 Preview is estimated at $2.35 vs $5 for Grok 4.7, saving $2.65 (53% lower).
Step 5 Preview is $2.65 cheaper on the standard workload (53% lower).
Step 5 Preview is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (50% lower; 2x difference).
Step 5 Preview is $3.3 cheaper per 1M output tokens (55% lower; 2.22x difference).
Step 5 Preview has 500K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	New🔥Step 5 Preview (StepFun)	Grok 4.7 (SpaceXAI)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$1	$2
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$2.7	$6
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$2.35	$5
Context Window	1M	500K
Release Date	2026-10-08	2026-09-21
Popularity	#2

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 $5 for Grok 4.7, saving $2.65 (53% 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

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Step 3.5 Flash can replace Step 5 Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.25.
Step 3.7 Flash can replace Step 5 Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.77.
Grok Build 0.1 can replace Grok 4.7 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.
Grok 4.3 (batch) can replace Grok 4.7 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.

Larger context near this budget

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 $0.47 sample workload cost.
MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #3
MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
Hy4 preview · Tencent · #5

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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StepFun catalog

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SpaceXAI catalog

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Step 5 Preview

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...

Grok 4.7

Grok 4.7 is SpaceXAI's flagship model for coding, agentic tasks, and knowledge work, succeeding Grok 4.6. It is particularly strong at long-running software engineering tasks, verifying its own work, and...