# Gemini 4 Carbon vs Step 5 Preview

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Gemini 4 Carbon and Step 5 Preview across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/gemini-4-carbon-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: October 28, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 1
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Evidence is too thin for a benchmark verdict: Gemini 4 Carbon and Step 5 Preview share only 1 sourced benchmark row.

## Summary

- Only 1 shared sourced benchmark row is available. That is not enough for a broad capability verdict, so this mirror does not name an overall winner.
- Step 5 Preview has the lower published output-token price.
- Step 5 Preview has the larger published context window at 1M.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Google | StepFun |
| Type | Proprietary | Open Weight |
| Reasoning | Reasoning | Reasoning |
| Context | null | 1M |
| Independent public score (not head-to-head) | 88.42 | 56.2 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 9 | 24 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $2.00 / $10.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 54.7 (Estimated · #41/134)

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| AutomationBench | 53.9% | 44.0% | Gemini 4 Carbon |
| OSWorld 2.1 Offline | 81.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CWE-bench v1 | 71.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| ExploitGym | 53.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | Coming soon | 85.0% | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | Coming soon | 33.30% | Coming soon |
| CyberGym | Coming soon | 84.7% | Coming soon |
| Toolathlon-Verified | Coming soon | 74.1% | Coming soon |
| MCP Atlas | Coming soon | 85.6% | Coming soon |
| JobBench | Coming soon | 59.0% | Coming soon |
| APEX-Agents | Coming soon | 37.8% | Coming soon |
| DRACO | Coming soon | 83.3% | Coming soon |
| BrowseComp | Coming soon | 88.7% | Coming soon |
| Agents' Last Exam | Coming soon | 29.5% | Coming soon |
| Hermes Index | Coming soon | 32.8% | Coming soon |
| Hermes Bench | Coming soon | 69.2% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: 82.2 (Supported · #3/156)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 48.6 (Estimated · #49/156)

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| FrontierSWE v2 | 61.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| DeepSWE | Coming soon | 67.7% | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | Coming soon | 85.0% | Coming soon |
| SciCode | Coming soon | 58.9% | Coming soon |
| ProgramBench | Coming soon | 80.5% | Coming soon |
| sweMarathon | Coming soon | 72.7% | Coming soon |
| MLS-Bench Lite | Coming soon | 40.5% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: 79.5 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 82.5 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GraphWalks BFS 256K–1M | 96.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CritPt | Coming soon | 20.9% | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 73.4 (#32/58)

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Chartography (no tools) | 72.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 58.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| OfficeQA Pro | Coming soon | 60.3% | Coming soon |
| MMMU-Pro | Coming soon | 76% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: 88.2 (Supported · #2/178)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 59.8 (Supported · #45/178)

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA-D | Coming soon | 93.5% | Coming soon |
| HLE | Coming soon | 46.5% | Coming soon |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Insufficient shared evidence
- Gemini 4 Carbon public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Gemini 4 Carbon | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Gray Swan IPI (15 attempts) | 0.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Is there enough evidence to pick between Gemini 4 Carbon and Step 5 Preview?

Not yet. The models share only 1 sourced benchmark row, so this mirror reports the available measurements and metadata without naming a broad winner.

### What can I compare safely on this page?

Published pricing, context windows, model type, and individual shared benchmark rows are directly comparable. Independent overall scores and non-overlapping benchmark coverage are labeled separately and should not be read as a controlled head-to-head result.

## Related Comparisons

- [Gemini 4 Carbon vs Gemini 4 Argon](/compare/gemini-4-argon-vs-gemini-4-carbon)
- [Step 5 Preview vs Gemini 4 Argon](/compare/gemini-4-argon-vs-step-5-preview)
- [Gemini 4 Carbon vs Claude Opus 5.5](/compare/claude-opus-5-5-vs-gemini-4-carbon)
- [Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5.5](/compare/claude-opus-5-5-vs-step-5-preview)

## Explore More

- [Gemini 4 Carbon profile](/models/gemini-4-carbon)
- [Step 5 Preview profile](/models/step-5-preview)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)