Pick GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user or fast, low-cost general tasks. Pick Step 3.7 Flash for a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows or scmp reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from deepseek and moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size. Choose Step 3.7 Flash if you need self-hosting or data privacy; GPT-5.4 Mini if you want a managed API.
GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI, US) and Step 3.7 Flash (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. GPT-5.4 Mini is openAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Step 3.7 Flash is stepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: Step 3.7 Flash is about 3.8× cheaper on input ($0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens vs $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
Context window: GPT-5.4 Mini holds 1.5× more — 400K (~600 pages) vs 256K (~393 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 3.7 Flash is the newer model by about 2 months (released May 29, 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.
Specifications
Spec
GPT-5.4 Mini
Step 3.7 Flash
Provider
OpenAI (US)
StepFun (China)
Released
March 17, 2026
May 29, 2026
Context window
400K (~600 pages)
256K (~393 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens
$0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Free for every ChatGPT user: GPT-5.4 Mini — OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed — and it carries the larger 400K context.
Fast, low-cost general tasks: GPT-5.4 Mini — GPT-5.4 Mini lists fast, low-cost general tasks among its strengths; Step 3.7 Flash does not.
Subagent capabilities: GPT-5.4 Mini — GPT-5.4 Mini lists subagent capabilities among its strengths; Step 3.7 Flash does not.
A 198B-parameter sparse MoE vision-language model (11B active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows: Step 3.7 Flash — GPT-5.4 Mini is comparatively weak here — smaller context than flagship models
SCMP reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from DeepSeek and Moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size: Step 3.7 Flash — StepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights — and it runs cheaper at $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens.
Open weights (Apache 2.0) at a low per-token price: Step 3.7 Flash — At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini ($0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Lowest cost at scale: Step 3.7 Flash — At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input: GPT-5.4 Mini — Its 400K window is about 1.5× larger than Step 3.7 Flash's 256K, fitting roughly 600 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: Step 3.7 Flash — At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: GPT-5.4 Mini — Larger 400K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: Step 3.7 Flash — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; GPT-5.4 Mini is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is free for every chatgpt user: GPT-5.4 Mini — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows: Step 3.7 Flash — That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules: GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash — Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
GPT-5.4 Mini: where it fits
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for free for every ChatGPT user, fast, low-cost general tasks, subagent capabilities, and native multimodal reasoning.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than flagship models, and not for the hardest reasoning. At $0.75 in / $4.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Step 3.7 Flash: where it fits
StepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights. Released May 29, 2026 by StepFun, it is built for a 198B-parameter sparse MoE vision-language model (11B active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows, sCMP reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from DeepSeek and Moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size, open weights (Apache 2.0) at a low per-token price, and includes a 1.8B vision encoder for image understanding alongside text.
Its trade-offs: stepFun is a newer, less established lab than DeepSeek, Alibaba, or Moonshot, benchmark 'outshines rivals' claims are from press coverage of specific tests, not a full independent leaderboard sweep, and smaller ecosystem and less third-party documentation than the more established Chinese labs. At $0.2 in / $1.15 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Step 3.7 Flash gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. GPT-5.4 Mini gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash 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, GPT-5.4 Mini leans toward free for every chatgpt user while Step 3.7 Flash leans toward a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash?
Step 3.7 Flash is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while GPT-5.4 Mini is API-metered at $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini — 400K vs 256K, about 1.5× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-5.4 Mini and Step 3.7 Flash together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-5.4 Mini, Step 3.7 Flash 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, GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash?
Step 3.7 Flash — released May 29, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.4 Mini.
GPT-5.4 Mini vs Step 3.7 Flash
OpenAI · US | StepFun · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user or fast, low-cost general tasks. Pick Step 3.7 Flash for a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows or scmp reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from deepseek and moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size. Choose Step 3.7 Flash if you need self-hosting or data privacy; GPT-5.4 Mini if you want a managed API.
GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI, US) and Step 3.7 Flash (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. GPT-5.4 Mini is openAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Step 3.7 Flash is stepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: Step 3.7 Flash is about 3.8× cheaper on input ($0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens vs $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
▸Context window: GPT-5.4 Mini holds 1.5× more — 400K (~600 pages) vs 256K (~393 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 3.7 Flash is the newer model by about 2 months (released May 29, 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
GPT-5.4 Mini
Step 3.7 Flash
Provider
OpenAI (US)
StepFun (China)
Released
March 17, 2026
May 29, 2026
Context window
400K (~600 pages)
256K (~393 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens
$0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
No — API only
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, image, code
text, image, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Free for every ChatGPT user
GPT-5.4 Mini
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed — and it carries the larger 400K context.
Fast, low-cost general tasks
GPT-5.4 Mini
GPT-5.4 Mini lists fast, low-cost general tasks among its strengths; Step 3.7 Flash does not.
Subagent capabilities
GPT-5.4 Mini
GPT-5.4 Mini lists subagent capabilities among its strengths; Step 3.7 Flash does not.
A 198B-parameter sparse MoE vision-language model (11B active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows
Step 3.7 Flash
GPT-5.4 Mini is comparatively weak here — smaller context than flagship models
SCMP reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from DeepSeek and Moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size
Step 3.7 Flash
StepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights — and it runs cheaper at $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens.
Open weights (Apache 2.0) at a low per-token price
Step 3.7 Flash
At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini ($0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Lowest cost at scale
Step 3.7 Flash
At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
GPT-5.4 Mini
Its 400K window is about 1.5× larger than Step 3.7 Flash's 256K, fitting roughly 600 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Step 3.7 Flash
At $0.2/$1.15 per 1M tokens it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
Larger 400K window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ Step 3.7 Flash
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; GPT-5.4 Mini is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is free for every chatgpt user
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows
→ Step 3.7 Flash
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash
Origin (US vs China) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
GPT-5.4 Mini: where it fits
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for free for every ChatGPT user, fast, low-cost general tasks, subagent capabilities, and native multimodal reasoning.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than flagship models, and not for the hardest reasoning. At $0.75 in / $4.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Step 3.7 Flash: where it fits
StepFun's 198B MoE vision-language model built for coding and search agents - a distinct Chinese lab with genuinely competitive open weights. Released May 29, 2026 by StepFun, it is built for a 198B-parameter sparse MoE vision-language model (11B active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows, sCMP reported it 'outshines larger rivals' from DeepSeek and Moonshot on some benchmarks despite its smaller active size, open weights (Apache 2.0) at a low per-token price, and includes a 1.8B vision encoder for image understanding alongside text.
Its trade-offs: stepFun is a newer, less established lab than DeepSeek, Alibaba, or Moonshot, benchmark 'outshines rivals' claims are from press coverage of specific tests, not a full independent leaderboard sweep, and smaller ecosystem and less third-party documentation than the more established Chinese labs. At $0.2 in / $1.15 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. Step 3.7 Flash gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. GPT-5.4 Mini gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both GPT-5.4 Mini and Step 3.7 Flash 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.
Is GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash 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, GPT-5.4 Mini leans toward free for every chatgpt user while Step 3.7 Flash leans toward a 198b-parameter sparse moe vision-language model (11b active) built specifically for agentic coding and search workflows, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash?
Step 3.7 Flash is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while GPT-5.4 Mini is API-metered at $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini — 400K vs 256K, about 1.5× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-5.4 Mini and Step 3.7 Flash together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-5.4 Mini, Step 3.7 Flash 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, GPT-5.4 Mini or Step 3.7 Flash?
Step 3.7 Flash — released May 29, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.4 Mini.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.