Side by side
Hy4 and Step 5 Preview, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Hy4 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $0.834 (better) | $1 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $2.501 (better) | $2.70 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | Not measured | 1448 Elo (#35 of 52) |
| Arena WebDev | Not measured | 1571 Elo (#30 of 46) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Tencent | StepFun |
| Release date | November 4, 2026 | Not reported |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | Not reported | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | Not reported | 64,000 tokens |
| Input | text, image | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
No independent benchmark has scored both models yet. Each rank counts the current models scored on that benchmark.
Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Hy4 and Step 5 Preview land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
Only Step 5 Preview has a current Arena Text score: #35 of 52. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Hy4: Not scored
Step 5 Preview:#35of 52
1,448 Elo · ahead of 31%
Arena WebDev
Hy4: Not scored
Step 5 Preview:#30of 46
1,571 Elo · ahead of 36%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Hy4:#21of 55
$0.834 · cheaper than 63%
Step 5 Preview:#22of 55
$1 · cheaper than 59%
Price per 1M output tokens
Hy4:#20of 55
$2.501 · cheaper than 65%
Step 5 Preview:#21of 55
$2.70 · cheaper than 63%
Context window
Hy4: Not listed
Step 5 Preview:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Quality against price
Step 5 Preview scores 1,448 at $1.43 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Carbon | $4 | 1,528 | |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Step 5 Preview costs 1.2 times as much as Hy4, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Step 5 Preview costs 1.2× as much
- Hy4
- $13.34
- Step 5 Preview
- $15.40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Step 5 Preview costs 1.2× as much
- Hy4
- $6.21
- Step 5 Preview
- $7.30
| Workload or rate | Hy4 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $13.34 (better) | $15.40 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $6.21 (better) | $7.30 |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.042 (better) | $0.10 |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Hy4
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $0.834 and $2.501 vs $1 and $2.70 per 1M tokens
- Cheaper cached input, $0.042 vs $0.10 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Agents that work across terminals, desktop apps and browsers on a tight budget
- Finance and office work: research reports, spreadsheets and slides
Watch out for
- API only for now: Tencent says it will publish the weights and a system card later, and only Hy4 preview (August 2026, Apache 2.0) is open today
- In Tencent's own table it scores 44.4% on Terminal-Bench 4.0 against 66.8% for Kimi K3.1 Pro, and Tencent says a clear gap remains to top proprietary models on research-level math, long-horizon coding and hard visual questions
- Tencent publishes no context window or output limit for Hy4 (the preview card lists 1M tokens), and no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
Step 5 Preview
Where it leads
- Accepts video input
Best for
- Long-context agentic coding and finance work
Watch out for
- A preview: StepFun publishes no release date, parameter count or benchmark scores for it
- Output tokens are billed including the reasoning trace, and output is capped at 64K tokens
From benchmark to production
Building on Hy4 or Step 5 Preview?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Hy4 vs Step 5 Preview FAQ
Which is cheaper, Hy4 or Step 5 Preview?
Hy4 is 17% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Step 5 Preview, $0.834 vs $1. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Hy4 costs $13.34 and Step 5 Preview $15.40 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Hy4 or Step 5 Preview?
Hy4 charges $0.042 per 1M cached input tokens, 95% below its standard input rate, and Step 5 Preview $0.10, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Hy4 costs $6.21 and Step 5 Preview $7.30.
How do Hy4 and Step 5 Preview differ in features?
Hy4 takes text and image input; Step 5 Preview takes text, image and video.
Further reading
More on Hy4 and Step 5 Preview
Related comparisons
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Hy4
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash vs Step 5 Preview
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Hy4
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Step 5 Preview
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Hy4
- Muse Spark 1.3 vs Step 5 Preview
- GLM-5.3-Flash vs Hy4
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Step 5 Preview
- GLM-5.3 vs Hy4
- Grok 4.20 vs Step 5 Preview
- GPT-6.1 Sol vs Hy4
- Grok 4.3 vs Step 5 Preview
Production evaluation
Choosing between Hy4 and Step 5 Preview?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty