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Model comparison

Mistral Large 3 vs Step 5 Preview

Mistral against StepFun, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

Mistral

Mistral Large 3

Frontier · Open weights

vs

StepFun

Step 5 Preview

Frontier

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationMistral Large 3Step 5 Preview
ProviderMistralStepFun
TierFrontierFrontier
Context window262KWinner: 1M
Max outputNot verifiedUnverifiedNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokensWinner: $0.50$1
Output / 1M tokensWinner: $1.50$2.70
WeightsOpenClosed
Parameters675B total / 41B active (sparse MoE)600B total / 27B active MoE (StepFun)
Reasoning levelsNot verifiedUnverifiedNot verifiedUnverified
Modalitiestext, imagetext, image
LicenseApache 2.0Not disclosedUnverified
API model idmistral-large-2512step-5-preview
ReleasedDecember 2, 2025September 18, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)9.3Winner: 43.7
GPQA Diamond (2026-09-26)68Not verifiedUnverified

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

  • 2026-09-26
    Artificial Analysis GPQA Diamond (independent; replaces Mistral's non-comparable base-model 5-shot 43.9)

    Graduate-level science reasoning: multiple-choice questions written by domain PhDs.

    Comparable with caveatSmall question pool: differences under ~2 points are within run-to-run noise. Chain-of-thought vs direct answering must match to compare. Saturated: frontier models score ~93–96% and Artificial Analysis dropped it from its Intelligence Index in v4.3 — use Humanity's Last Exam for hard reasoning.

  • 2026-09-26
    Artificial Analysis

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.

Pricing tiers

Mistral Large 3: Mistral first-party API $0.50/$1.50 per MTok; cached input $0.05/MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0), EU-hosted.

Step 5 Preview: $1.00/$2.70 per MTok on the StepFun platform (cache-hit input $0.05); StepFun lists it under Multimodal Reasoning Models and says output tokens include reasoning. No max-output figure is published. StepFun says open weights follow on 2026-10-15. Release date per Artificial Analysis's listing (StepFun's launch page is undated).

FrontierOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

Mistral Large 3

Mistral Large 3 is Mistral's December 2025 open-weight (Apache 2.0) 675B/41B sparse MoE with a 262K context at $0.50/$1.50 — Mistral now features Medium 3.5 as its flagship.

Best for

  • Open-weight deployments
  • Multimodal EU-hosted inference
  • Balanced frontier work

Watch out

No longer Mistral's featured flagship (Medium 3.5 is) and far behind it on the Artificial Analysis index; max output is not published. Verify multimodal support and EU data residency on your endpoint.

FrontierRecord checked September 26, 2026

Step 5 Preview

Step 5 Preview is StepFun's new frontier reasoning model — a 1M-context, vision-input API preview that lands near Kimi K3 and GLM 5.3 on the Artificial Analysis index at a lower price.

Best for

  • Long-context work on a budget
  • Chinese + English
  • Early testing before the open-weight drop

Watch out

Preview: weights are promised for 2026-10-15 but not yet released, and its max output is unpublished and the launch benchmarks are vendor-run.

When the cheaper one wins

Mistral Large 3 is cheaper on output at $1.50 per million tokens against $2.70 for Step 5 Preview — about 1.8×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

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Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, reasoning levels.
  • 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Mistral Large 3 · Step 5 Preview

Common questions

Mistral Large 3 vs Step 5 Preview

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Mistral Large 3 or Step 5 Preview cheaper for input?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $0.50 per million input tokens, against $1 for Step 5 Preview — roughly 2.0× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Mistral Large 3 has tiered pricing: Mistral first-party API $0.50/$1.50 per MTok; cached input $0.05/MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0), EU-hosted. Step 5 Preview has tiered pricing: $1.00/$2.70 per MTok on the StepFun platform (cache-hit input $0.05); StepFun lists it under Multimodal Reasoning Models and says output tokens include reasoning. No max-output figure is published. StepFun says open weights follow on 2026-10-15. Release date per Artificial Analysis's listing (StepFun's launch page is undated).
Is Mistral Large 3 or Step 5 Preview cheaper for output?
Mistral Large 3 is cheaper at $1.50 per million output tokens, against $2.70 for Step 5 Preview — roughly 1.8× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Mistral Large 3 has tiered pricing: Mistral first-party API $0.50/$1.50 per MTok; cached input $0.05/MTok. Open weights (Apache 2.0), EU-hosted. Step 5 Preview has tiered pricing: $1.00/$2.70 per MTok on the StepFun platform (cache-hit input $0.05); StepFun lists it under Multimodal Reasoning Models and says output tokens include reasoning. No max-output figure is published. StepFun says open weights follow on 2026-10-15. Release date per Artificial Analysis's listing (StepFun's launch page is undated).
Which has the larger context window, Mistral Large 3 or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview accepts 1M tokens against 262K for Mistral Large 3. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use Mistral Large 3 or Step 5 Preview?
Both sit in the frontier tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. Mistral Large 3 suits open-weight deployments; Step 5 Preview suits long-context work on a budget.
Can I self-host Mistral Large 3 or Step 5 Preview?
Mistral Large 3 publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Step 5 Preview is a closed model whose supported access paths are controlled by its provider.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: Mistral Large 3 costs $0.50 per 1M tokens versus $1 for Step 5 Preview — a 2x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: Step 5 Preview takes 1M against 262K for Mistral Large 3 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
  • Measured capability: Step 5 Preview leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 43.7 to 9.3 (measured 2026-09-26).
  • Deployment: Mistral Large 3 publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.
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