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LFM2.5-VL-3B vs Step-3.5-Flash

Comparing LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Liquid AI · StepFun · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose LFM2.5-VL-3B

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose Step-3.5-Flash

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

LFM2.5-VL-3B
Liquid AI
Step-3.5-Flash
StepFun
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
—
65,536
Released
Aug 2026
Feb 2026
License
LFM Open License v1.0
Apache 2.0

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flashdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

192.9B diff

Step-3.5-Flash has 192.9B more parameters than LFM2.5-VL-3B, making it 6175.0% larger.

Liquid AI
LFM2.5-VL-3B
3.1Bparameters
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
196.0Bparameters
3.1B
LFM2.5-VL-3B
196.0B
Step-3.5-Flash

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Step-3.5-Flash specifies input context (65,536 tokens). Only Step-3.5-Flash specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

Liquid AI
LFM2.5-VL-3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
StepFun
Step-3.5-Flash
Input65,536 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

LFM2.5-VL-3B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Step-3.5-Flash does not.

LFM2.5-VL-3B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

LFM2.5-VL-3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step-3.5-Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

LFM2.5-VL-3B is licensed under LFM Open License v1.0, while Step-3.5-Flash uses Apache 2.0.

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

LFM2.5-VL-3B

LFM Open License v1.0

Open weights

Step-3.5-Flash

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LFM2.5-VL-3B was released on 2026-08-12, while Step-3.5-Flash was released on 2026-02-02.

LFM2.5-VL-3B is 6 months newer than Step-3.5-Flash.

LFM2.5-VL-3B

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

6mo newer
Step-3.5-Flash

Feb 2, 2026

6 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

LFM2.5-VL-3B
✓ Preferred
Step-3.5-Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about LFM2.5-VL-3B vs Step-3.5-Flash.

Which is better, LFM2.5-VL-3B or Step-3.5-Flash?

LFM2.5-VL-3B (Liquid AI) and Step-3.5-Flash (StepFun) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does LFM2.5-VL-3B compare to Step-3.5-Flash in benchmarks?

LFM2.5-VL-3B scores DocVQA: 91.1%, POPE: 88.7%, RefCOCO-avg: 87.9%, TextVQA: 84.3%, OCRBench: 84.2%. Step-3.5-Flash scores AIME 2025: 97.3%, Tau-bench: 88.2%, LiveCodeBench v6: 86.4%, IMO-AnswerBench: 85.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 74.4%.

What are the context window sizes for LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash?

LFM2.5-VL-3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Step-3.5-Flash supports 66K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (LFM Open License v1.0 vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes LFM2.5-VL-3B and Step-3.5-Flash?

LFM2.5-VL-3B is developed by Liquid AI and Step-3.5-Flash is developed by StepFun.

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