# Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B vs Step 5 Preview

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B and Step 5 Preview across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: October 15, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 5
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5.8

## Quick Verdict

Step 5 Preview leads by point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence. Choose using the category evidence and your own workload tests.

## Summary

- Step 5 Preview has the higher overall point estimate 69.44 to 49.51. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.
- The clearest category separation is in agentic, where the averages are 44.2 for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B and 65.4 for Step 5 Preview.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is Terminal-Bench 2.1 in Agentic, with scores of 66.7% and 85.0%.
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B is the cheaper option on output tokens, which matters if you expect large responses or heavy interactive use.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | NVIDIA | StepFun |
| Type | Open Weight | Open Weight |
| Reasoning | Reasoning | Reasoning |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Overall Score | 49.51 | 69.44 |
| Benchmarks Covered | 19 | 24 |
| Pricing (input/output) | Pricing unavailable / Pricing unavailable | $1.00 / $2.70 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Directional only
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 44.2 (Estimated · #61/127)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 65.4 (Estimated · #18/127)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 66.7% | 85.0% | Step 5 Preview |
| τ²-bench Airline | 76.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| τ³-bench results | 18.9% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| BrowseComp | 78% | 88.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | Coming soon | 33.30% | Coming soon |
| CyberGym | Coming soon | 84.7% | Coming soon |
| AutomationBench | Coming soon | 44.0% | 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 |
| 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: Not comparable
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 60.5 (Estimated · #20/150)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| LiveCodeBench v6 | 88.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench Verified | 71.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE Multilingual | 67.7% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench Pro | 51.8% | 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: Not comparable
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 73 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 83.4 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| CritPt | 10.9% | 20.9% | Step 5 Preview |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Not comparable
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 62 (Unranked · 5 rankable rows)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 74.6 (#24/54)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| BabyVision | 29.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MMLongBench-Doc | 62.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| V* | 85.6% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MathVision | 78.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CharXiv | 80.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| OfficeQA Pro | Coming soon | 60.3% | Coming soon |
| MMMU-Pro | Coming soon | 76% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Directional only
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 51.8 (Estimated · #73/184)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 68.7 (Supported · #22/184)

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA-D | 89.5% | 93.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| HLE w/o tools | 31.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| HLE | 29.2% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |

### Instruction Following

- Winner: Not comparable
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: 66.6 (#72/146)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| IFBench | 70.9% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

### Mathematics

- Winner: Not comparable
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Apex Shortlist | 88.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B or Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview has the higher overall point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

### Where is the biggest gap between Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B and Step 5 Preview?

The widest category gap is in agentic, where the averages are 44.2 for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B and 65.4 for Step 5 Preview.

### How many benchmarks does Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B cover on BenchLM?

Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B currently has 19 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Step 5 Preview cover on BenchLM?

Step 5 Preview currently has 24 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B NVFP4](/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-nvfp4)
- [Step 5 Preview vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B NVFP4](/compare/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b-nvfp4-vs-step-5-preview)
- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B vs Claude Opus 5.5](/compare/claude-opus-5-5-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b)
- [Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5.5](/compare/claude-opus-5-5-vs-step-5-preview)

## Explore More

- [Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 120B A12B profile](/models/nemotron-3-5-super-vl-120b-a12b)
- [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)