Model Comparison

LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Step3-VL-10BWhich is better in 2026?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Step3-VL-10B — which is better?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking (by Meituan) 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.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Step3-VL-10B is better at 0 benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose LongCat-Flash-Thinking if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks

Choose Step3-VL-10B if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2026
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

LongCat-Flash-Thinking outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while Step3-VL-10B is better at 0 benchmarks.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

550.0B diff

LongCat-Flash-Thinking has 550.0B more parameters than Step3-VL-10B, making it 5500.0% larger.

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
560.0Bparameters
StepFun
Step3-VL-10B
10.0Bparameters
560.0B
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
10.0B
Step3-VL-10B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only LongCat-Flash-Thinking specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only LongCat-Flash-Thinking specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
StepFun
Step3-VL-10B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Step3-VL-10B supports multimodal inputs, whereas LongCat-Flash-Thinking does not.

Step3-VL-10B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Step3-VL-10B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

LongCat-Flash-Thinking is licensed under MIT, while Step3-VL-10B uses Apache 2.0.

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

LongCat-Flash-Thinking

MIT

Open weights

Step3-VL-10B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LongCat-Flash-Thinking was released on 2025-09-22, while Step3-VL-10B was released on 2026-01-15.

Step3-VL-10B is 4 months newer than LongCat-Flash-Thinking.

LongCat-Flash-Thinking

Sep 22, 2025

8 months ago

Step3-VL-10B

Jan 15, 2026

4 months ago

3mo newer

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→

Key Takeaways

Meituan
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Higher AIME 2025 score (90.6% vs 87.7%)
StepFun
Supports multimodal inputs

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Meituan
LongCat-Flash-Thinking
StepFun
Step3-VL-10B

FAQ

Common questions about LongCat-Flash-Thinking vs Step3-VL-10B.

Which is better, LongCat-Flash-Thinking or Step3-VL-10B?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LongCat-Flash-Thinking is made by Meituan 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 LongCat-Flash-Thinking compare to Step3-VL-10B in benchmarks?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking scores MATH-500: 99.2%, ZebraLogic: 95.5%, AIME 2024: 93.3%, AIME 2025: 90.6%, MMLU-Redux: 89.3%. 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 LongCat-Flash-Thinking and Step3-VL-10B?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking supports 128K 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 LongCat-Flash-Thinking and Step3-VL-10B?

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

Who makes LongCat-Flash-Thinking and Step3-VL-10B?

LongCat-Flash-Thinking is developed by Meituan and Step3-VL-10B is developed by StepFun.

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