Step 3vsStep 2 16k Exp 202412
Step 3 is tied with Step 2 16k Exp 202412 on the Podium Score (67.0).Category wins: Step 3 0 — 0 Step 2 16k Exp 202412.Step 3 is the cheaper pick ($3/M vs $3/M per 1M output tokens). Step 3 is faster (50 t/s vs 50 t/s).
Key VerdictAggregated 2026 Benchmark Analysis
Step 3 is rated higher overall with a Podium Score of 67.0 (vs 67.0 for Step 2 16k Exp 202412). Both models show closely matched capabilities across domain benchmarks.
Coding & Engineering
Comparable
Inference Speed
Step 3 (50 t/s)
Cost Efficiency
Step 3 ($3/M/M)
| Metric | Step 3 | Step 2 16k Exp 202412 |
|---|---|---|
| Podium Score | 67.0 | 67.0 |
| Arena Elo | — | — |
| Intelligence Index | — | — |
| Coding | — | — |
| Math | — | — |
| Reasoning | — | — |
| Agentic | — | — |
| Knowledge | — | — |
| Multimodal | — | — |
| Long-context | — | — |
| Output speed | 50 t/s | 50 t/s |
| Output price | $3/M | $3/M |
| Context window | 128K | 128K |
Scores aggregated from five independent leaderboards. See Methodology. More head-to-heads: Step 3 vs Claude Mythos · Step 3 vs Claude Fable 5 · Step 3 vs Kimi K3 · Step 3 vs Claude Opus 5