MiMo-V2.6-Pro vs Step 5 Preview: speed, latency and cost

MiMo-V2.6-Pro leads the intelligence index 29.9 to 28.5. MiMo-V2.6-Pro costs 62% less on blended price. See token costs, speed and which to pick.

Metric	MiMo-V2.6-Pro	Step 5 Preview
Intelligence Index	29.9	28.5
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.435	$1.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$0.87	$2.70
Output speed (tokens/s)	41	151
Time to first token	3.0s	0.91s
Release date	2026-09-21	2026-09-18

Metric

MiMo-V2.6-Pro

Step 5 Preview

Intelligence Index

29.9

28.5

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.435

$1.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$0.87

$2.70

Output speed (tokens/s)

151

Time to first token

3.0s

0.91s

Release date

2026-09-21

2026-09-18

MiMo-V2.6-Pro from Xiaomi and Step 5 Preview from StepFun land within 1.4 points of each other on the intelligence index. What follows is built entirely from tracked data, so where the catalogue is silent, this page says so instead of guessing. The biggest gap is output speed, where Step 5 Preview records 151 tokens per second and MiMo-V2.6-Pro 41 tokens per second.

Throughput and time to first token

Measured output speed is 41 tokens per second for MiMo-V2.6-Pro and 151 tokens per second for Step 5 Preview. That makes Step 5 Preview roughly 3.7 times as fast at writing. Before any text appears, MiMo-V2.6-Pro takes 3.0 seconds and Step 5 Preview 0.91 seconds. Step 5 Preview gets to its first token 3.4 times as fast.

Add the two numbers up for a 600-token reply and Step 5 Preview finishes first: 18 seconds for MiMo-V2.6-Pro, 4.9 seconds for Step 5 Preview.

Running costs

Per million tokens, MiMo-V2.6-Pro charges $0.435 for input and $0.87 for output, while Step 5 Preview charges $1.00 and $2.70. For output tokens, Step 5 Preview is 3.1 times the price of MiMo-V2.6-Pro.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $0.61 on MiMo-V2.6-Pro and $1.54 on Step 5 Preview. For a chat app with 50,000 sessions of 800 input and 300 output tokens, MiMo-V2.6-Pro would come in 62% lower: $30.45 for MiMo-V2.6-Pro against $80.50 for Step 5 Preview. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $0.544 versus $1.425 per million.

How the intelligence index compares

On the intelligence index, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 29.9 against 28.5 for Step 5 Preview. It is a small margin for an index that averages many evaluations. In relative terms, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 5% higher.

Among 109 active scored models, MiMo-V2.6-Pro sits 55th and Step 5 Preview 61st.

There are no coding or math index scores for either model in the catalogue, which keeps this comparison at the aggregate level.

Score per dollar

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.018 for MiMo-V2.6-Pro and $0.050 for Step 5 Preview, per million tokens. With the higher score and the lower cost per point, MiMo-V2.6-Pro is the better value per point on these numbers.

Generation gap

MiMo-V2.6-Pro arrived on September 21, 2026, 3 days after Step 5 Preview (September 18, 2026). That is close enough to count them as the same generation.

Common questions about MiMo-V2.6-Pro and Step 5 Preview

Is Step 5 Preview better than MiMo-V2.6-Pro?

Neither wins everywhere: MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores higher on the intelligence index, 29.9 to 28.5; MiMo-V2.6-Pro is 62% cheaper on blended price; and Step 5 Preview streams output 3.7 times as fast.

Which is newer, MiMo-V2.6-Pro or Step 5 Preview?

MiMo-V2.6-Pro is newer. It was released on September 21, 2026, 3 days after Step 5 Preview (September 18, 2026).

Who makes MiMo-V2.6-Pro and Step 5 Preview?

MiMo-V2.6-Pro is made by Xiaomi and Step 5 Preview by StepFun. MiMo-V2.6-Pro was released on September 21, 2026 and Step 5 Preview on September 18, 2026.

Is Step 5 Preview cheaper than MiMo-V2.6-Pro?

MiMo-V2.6-Pro is cheaper on a blended basis. MiMo-V2.6-Pro lists $0.435 per million input tokens and $0.87 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists $1.00 and $2.70. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $0.61 against $1.54.

Which model has lower latency?

Step 5 Preview generates output faster, at 151 tokens per second against 41 tokens per second. Step 5 Preview reaches its first token sooner (0.91 seconds against 3.0 seconds).

Final whistle

The verdict: on balance the numbers favour Step 5 Preview, though MiMo-V2.6-Pro keeps a case of its own. Pick MiMo-V2.6-Pro if cost matters ($0.87 against $2.70 per million output tokens) and you need the higher overall score (29.9 against 28.5). Pick Step 5 Preview if long outputs need to finish quickly and users are waiting on the first word.

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 MiMo-V2.6-Pro and Step 5 Preview pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.