Model Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Step3-VL-10BWhich is better in 2026?

Step3-VL-10B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Step3-VL-10B — which is better?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (by Anthropic) and Step3-VL-10B (by StepFun) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Step3-VL-10B is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025). Step3-VL-10B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output

Choose Step3-VL-10B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Step3-VL-10B is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).

Step3-VL-10B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 specifies output context (64,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
StepFun
Step3-VL-10B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Step3-VL-10B support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step3-VL-10B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Step3-VL-10B uses Apache 2.0.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Step3-VL-10B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while Step3-VL-10B was released on 2026-01-15.

Step3-VL-10B is 4 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Sep 29, 2025

9 months ago

Step3-VL-10B

Jan 15, 2026

6 months ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while Step3-VL-10B's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Claude Sonnet 4.5's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Step3-VL-10B's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Jan 2025

Step3-VL-10B

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
StepFun
Has open weights
Higher AIME 2025 score (87.7% vs 87.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Step3-VL-10B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
✓ Preferred
Step3-VL-10B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.5
StepFun
Step3-VL-10B

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Step3-VL-10B.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Step3-VL-10B?

Step3-VL-10B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is made by Anthropic and Step3-VL-10B is made by StepFun. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Sonnet 4.5 compare to Step3-VL-10B in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 scores MMMLU: 89.1%, AIME 2025: 87.0%, TAU-bench Retail: 86.2%, GPQA: 83.4%, MMMUval: 77.8%. Step3-VL-10B scores MMBench: 91.8%, AIME 2025: 87.7%, MathVista: 84.0%, MMMU: 78.1%, MathVision: 70.8%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Step3-VL-10B?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K tokens and Step3-VL-10B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Step3-VL-10B?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Step3-VL-10B?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is developed by Anthropic and Step3-VL-10B is developed by StepFun.

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