GPT-5.6 Terra Max vs Step 5 Preview: which responds faster?

GPT-5.6 Terra Max leads the intelligence index 32.3 to 28.5. Step 5 Preview costs 68% less on blended price. See token costs, speed and which to pick.

Metric	GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)	Step 5 Preview
Intelligence Index	32.3	28.5
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$2.00	$1.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$12.00	$2.70
Output speed (tokens/s)	116	151
Time to first token	3.4 min	0.91s
Release date	2026-07-09	2026-09-18

Metric

GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)

Step 5 Preview

Intelligence Index

32.3

28.5

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$2.00

$1.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$12.00

$2.70

Output speed (tokens/s)

116

151

Time to first token

3.4 min

0.91s

Release date

2026-07-09

2026-09-18

Choosing between GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) and Step 5 Preview also means choosing between OpenAI and StepFun. The figures come from tracked catalogue data, not from our own testing, so treat them as a starting point for a trial on your tasks. The widest gap is the wait for the first token: 0.91 seconds for Step 5 Preview against 3.4 minutes for GPT-5.6 Terra Max.

Step 5 Preview is the faster writer

GPT-5.6 Terra Max generates about 116 tokens per second and Step 5 Preview about 151 tokens per second. Step 5 Preview is ahead by 31% on throughput. Time to first token is 3.4 minutes for GPT-5.6 Terra Max and 0.91 seconds for Step 5 Preview. In an interactive app, Step 5 Preview will feel noticeably more responsive. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

Put together, a 400-token answer would take about 3.5 minutes from GPT-5.6 Terra Max and 3.6 seconds from Step 5 Preview, counting the first-token wait.

Cost: Step 5 Preview is cheaper

GPT-5.6 Terra Max lists $2.00 per million input tokens and $12.00 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists $1.00 and $2.70. For output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra Max is 4.4 times the price of Step 5 Preview.

For a sample workload of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra Max would cost $4.40 and Step 5 Preview $1.54, a difference of $2.86. Scale it up to summarising 1,000 documents of 8,000 tokens into 400-token summaries and the bill is $20.80 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max against $9.08 for Step 5 Preview.

Release timing

The release dates are July 9, 2026 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max and September 18, 2026 for Step 5 Preview, about 2 months apart.

Reasoning and overall scores

On the intelligence index, GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores 32.3 against 28.5 for Step 5 Preview. That is a clear margin for an index that averages many evaluations. In relative terms, GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores 13% higher.

For context, that places GPT-5.6 Terra Max 46th and Step 5 Preview 61st out of 109 scored models still on offer.

The catalogue does not yet split either model's score into coding and math indexes.

Value for money

A blunt value measure, blended price over intelligence score, puts GPT-5.6 Terra Max at $0.14 and Step 5 Preview at $0.050 per point. So GPT-5.6 Terra Max buys its higher score at a premium, while Step 5 Preview is the value pick, paying 64% less per point.

Common questions about GPT-5.6 Terra Max and Step 5 Preview

Is Step 5 Preview better than GPT-5.6 Terra Max?

It depends on what you need: GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores higher on the intelligence index, 32.3 to 28.5; Step 5 Preview is 68% cheaper on blended price; and Step 5 Preview streams output 1.3 times as fast.

Are GPT-5.6 Terra Max and Step 5 Preview from the same company?

GPT-5.6 Terra Max is made by OpenAI and Step 5 Preview by StepFun. GPT-5.6 Terra Max was released on July 9, 2026 and Step 5 Preview on September 18, 2026.

Was this comparison tested by hand?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

When were GPT-5.6 Terra Max and Step 5 Preview released?

Step 5 Preview is newer. It was released on September 18, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.6 Terra Max (July 9, 2026).

Does GPT-5.6 Terra Max respond faster than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview generates output faster, at 151 tokens per second against 116 tokens per second. Step 5 Preview reaches its first token sooner (0.91 seconds against 3.4 minutes).

Final whistle

Short answer: on balance the numbers favour Step 5 Preview, though GPT-5.6 Terra Max keeps a case of its own. Pick Step 5 Preview if users are waiting on the first word and cost matters ($2.70 against $12.00 per million output tokens). Pick GPT-5.6 Terra Max if you need the higher overall score (32.3 against 28.5).

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) and Step 5 Preview pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.