Gemini 4 Argon vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is 2.8× cheaper for typical traffic ; Gemini 4 Argon scores higher on the Artificial Analysis intelligence index (52.6 vs 43.7).
Prices checked Oct 21, 2026
| Gemini 4 Argon | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Stepfun | |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $1.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $2.70 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.10 | $0.10 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Max output | 944K | 64K |
| Intelligence index | 52.6 | 43.7 |
| Image input | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | Yes |
| Open weights | No | Yes |
Monthly cost for common workloads
| Workload | Gemini 4 Argon | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Customer chatbot 1,000 conversations a day, 8 turns each | $1,150 | $392 |
| Document Q&A (RAG) 500 questions a day over retrieved documents | $238 | $102 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 200 tasks a day, long tool-heavy contexts | $447 | $182 |
| Content generation 30 long articles a day | $27.90 | $8.77 |
| Classification / extraction 100,000 short items a day | $2,250 | $1,021 |
Estimates include cached-input discounts where a model offers them. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.
Which one to choose
- Lowest cost: Step 5 Preview — 2.8× cheaper on a 3:1 input/output mix.
- Capabilities: Gemini 4 Argon — vision, audio, tools, reasoning, JSON; Step 5 Preview — vision, tools, reasoning, JSON, open weights.