Amazon Nova Pro vs Step 5 Preview
Amazon · US | StepFun · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Amazon Nova Pro for multimodal input across text, image and video at $0.80/$3.20 or deep aws and bedrock integration for enterprise pipelines. Pick Step 5 Preview for sparse moe architecture — 600b total parameters, only 27b active per token — built for long-horizon agentic work across large codebases and documents or 1m-token context window (64k max output) at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, among the cheapest frontier-scale context windows available. On a tight budget at scale, Amazon Nova Pro is the value pick.
Amazon Nova Pro (Amazon, US) and Step 5 Preview (StepFun, China) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. Amazon Nova Pro is amazon's multimodal Bedrock model at $0.80/$3.20 with a 300K window — an enterprise-integrated generalist, not a frontier model. Step 5 Preview is stepFun's September 20, 2026 flagship preview — a 600B-parameter sparse MoE model (27B active) with a 1M-token context window at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, open weights promised for mid-October. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: nearly identical — $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens vs $1/$2.7 per 1M tokens. Cost will not be the deciding factor here.
- ▸Context window: Step 5 Preview holds 3.3× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 300K (~450 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: Step 5 Preview is the newer model by about 22 months (released September 20, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a US-vs-China matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Amazon Nova Pro | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Amazon (US) | StepFun (China) |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | September 20, 2026 |
| Context window | 300K (~450 pages) | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens | $1/$2.7 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | No — API only | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, image, video, code | text, image, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Multimodal input across text, image and video at $0.80/$3.20
Amazon Nova Pro
Amazon's multimodal Bedrock model at $0.80/$3.20 with a 300K window — an enterprise-integrated generalist, not a frontier model — and it runs cheaper at $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens.
Deep AWS and Bedrock integration for enterprise pipelines
Amazon Nova Pro
Amazon Nova Pro lists deep AWS and Bedrock integration for enterprise pipelines among its strengths; Step 5 Preview does not.
Balanced cost-to-capability for general business tasks
Amazon Nova Pro
At $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens it undercuts Step 5 Preview ($1/$2.7 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Sparse MoE architecture — 600B total parameters, only 27B active per token — built for long-horizon agentic work across large codebases and documents
Step 5 Preview
Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.3× more than Amazon Nova Pro's 300K in a single prompt.
1M-token context window (64K max output) at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, among the cheapest frontier-scale context windows available
Step 5 Preview
Amazon Nova Pro is comparatively weak here — not a frontier reasoning or coding model against 2026 flagships
67.7% on DeepSWE v1.1, ahead of open-weight rivals Kimi K3 (67.5%) and GLM-5.3 (66.9%)
Step 5 Preview
StepFun's September 20, 2026 flagship preview — a 600B-parameter sparse MoE model (27B active) with a 1M-token context window at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, open weights promised for mid-October — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Lowest cost at scale
Amazon Nova Pro
At $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Step 5 Preview
Its 1M tokens window is about 3.3× larger than Amazon Nova Pro's 300K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Amazon Nova Pro
At $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens it undercuts Step 5 Preview, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Step 5 Preview
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is multimodal input across text, image and video at $0.80/$3.20
→ Amazon Nova Pro
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is sparse moe architecture — 600b total parameters, only 27b active per token — built for long-horizon agentic work across large codebases and documents
→ Step 5 Preview
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Amazon Nova Pro or Step 5 Preview
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
Amazon Nova Pro: where it fits
Amazon's multimodal Bedrock model at $0.80/$3.20 with a 300K window — an enterprise-integrated generalist, not a frontier model. Released December 5, 2024 by Amazon, it is built for multimodal input across text, image and video at $0.80/$3.20, deep AWS and Bedrock integration for enterprise pipelines, balanced cost-to-capability for general business tasks, and a 300K context for long documents and mixed media.
Its trade-offs are real: not a frontier reasoning or coding model against 2026 flagships, no published SWE-Bench Verified score, best value is realised inside the AWS ecosystem, and late-2024 model — older than most of the field here. At $0.8 in / $3.2 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Step 5 Preview: where it fits
StepFun's September 20, 2026 flagship preview — a 600B-parameter sparse MoE model (27B active) with a 1M-token context window at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, open weights promised for mid-October. Released September 20, 2026 by StepFun, it is built for sparse MoE architecture — 600B total parameters, only 27B active per token — built for long-horizon agentic work across large codebases and documents, 1M-token context window (64K max output) at $1/$2.70 per million tokens, among the cheapest frontier-scale context windows available, 67.7% on DeepSWE v1.1, ahead of open-weight rivals Kimi K3 (67.5%) and GLM-5.3 (66.9%), and scores 44 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, ranking 27th of 653 models tracked.
Its trade-offs: trails closed frontier models on coding — 67.7% on DeepSWE v1.1 vs GPT-6 Astra's 74.1% and Claude Opus 5's 74.0%, open weights were promised for October 15, 2026 but hadn't shipped as of this writing — API-only for now despite the open-weight roadmap, a 'Preview' release, not StepFun's finished flagship — positioning and pricing may change once weights ship, and stepCodeBench and DeepSWE figures are StepFun's own reported numbers, not yet independently reproduced at scale. At $1 in / $2.7 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." Amazon Nova Pro (US) and Step 5 Preview (China) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. Amazon Nova Pro is the cheaper option, which matters at volume. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both Amazon Nova Pro and Step 5 Preview without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Amazon Nova Pro or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Amazon Nova Pro leans toward multimodal input across text, image and video at $0.80/$3.20 while Step 5 Preview leans toward sparse moe architecture — 600b total parameters, only 27b active per token — built for long-horizon agentic work across large codebases and documents, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Amazon Nova Pro or Step 5 Preview?
Amazon Nova Pro is cheaper — $0.8/$3.2 per 1M tokens vs $1/$2.7 per 1M tokens, roughly 1.3× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview — 1M tokens vs 300K, about 3.3× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Amazon Nova Pro and Step 5 Preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Amazon Nova Pro, Step 5 Preview and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Amazon Nova Pro or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview — released September 20, 2026, about 22 months after Amazon Nova Pro.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.