• Updated 31 Oct, 14:35 UTC
  • Next run 1 Nov, 05:17 UTCNext 1 Nov 05:17
  • Last 7 days: 4 new models · 448 runs7 d: 4 models · 448 runs
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Step 5 Preview vs Claude Opus 5.5

6 prompts both ran·Specs and numbers·Change models

Step 5 Preview took 10 min 44 s and $0.33 at list price, Claude Opus 5.5 took 11 min 46 s and $1.57 at list price. Claude Opus 5.5 took 1.1× as long and cost 4.8× as much.

Step 5 Preview

StepFun · $2.70/M out · 155 HN pts

Claude Opus 5.5

Anthropic · $20.00/M out · 2,737 HN pts

Only Claude Opus 5.5 has CLI runs here (Claude Code).

Pelican

Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle

Step 5 Preview's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

Step 5 Preview

32 s$0.0196.9k tokensAPI
Claude Opus 5.5's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

Claude Opus 5.5

25 s$0.0462.3k tokensCLI

Watch

Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.

Still of Step 5 Preview's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

Step 5 Preview

22 s$0.0134.9k tokensAPI
Still of Claude Opus 5.5's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

Claude Opus 5.5

1 min 42 s$0.2211k tokensCLI

Landing

Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.

Still of Step 5 Preview's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

Step 5 Preview

4 min 7 s$0.1453k tokensAPI
Still of Claude Opus 5.5's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

Claude Opus 5.5

4 min 8 s$0.5930k tokensCLI

Breakout

Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.

Still of Step 5 Preview's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Step 5 Preview

1 min 55 s$0.06825k tokensAPI
Still of Claude Opus 5.5's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Claude Opus 5.5

4 min 39 s$0.6331k tokensCLI

Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.

Step 5 Preview's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

Step 5 Preview

3 min 41 s$0.08431k tokensAPI
Claude Opus 5.5's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

Claude Opus 5.5

43 s$0.0783.9k tokensCLI

About

Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.

Patchbay is a three-person workshop based in Rotterdam, dedicated to keeping vintage synthesizers alive and playable. We are technicians, musicians, and obsessive tinkerers who believe that classic analog instruments deserve better than silence. From temperamental Jupiter-8s to worn-out ARP Odysseys, we restore, repair, and maintain the machines that shaped the sound of modern music. Every repair starts with listening—both to the instrument and to the person who plays it. Whether you are chasing a rare fault, need a full calibration, or simply want your old synth to feel new again, our bench is open. We understand that no two synthesizers arrive with the same story, and we treat each circuit, slider, and key with the care its history deserves. At Patchbay, we are here to make sure the sounds of tomorrow are built on those that came before.

Step 5 Preview

7 s$0.003919 tokensAPI

Patchbay is three people in a narrow workshop near the Maas in Rotterdam. Every day we open up instruments that were built before most of their current owners were born. Some arrive in flight cases and some come wrapped in old bath towels. Most have a story: a Juno that went quiet halfway through a gig, a Minimoog left in someone's attic for thirty years, or a modular system that a previous technician gave up on.

We started Patchbay because we kept seeing good synthesizers sent off as "unrepairable" when all they needed was patience, a schematic and a steady hand. We swap out dried capacitors, hunt for intermittent faults, recalibrate oscillators until they track properly again, and source or rebuild parts that stopped being made decades ago.

We don't try to make old machines sound new. Our job is to make them sound like themselves again, and to make sure they keep working for the next person who plays them.

Claude Opus 5.5

9 s$0.009458 tokensCLI

Specs and numbers

Step 5 PreviewClaude Opus 5.5
MakerStepFunAnthropic
Made inChinaUS
Released8 Oct 202622 Sep 2026
Price in, per M tokens$1.00$4.00
Price out, per M tokens$2.70$20.00
Context1,048,576 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Weightsopenclosed
Hacker News points1552,737
Time for the six prompts10 min 44 s11 min 46 s
List price of the six prompts$0.33$1.57

Step 5 Preview was cheaper: $1.24 less at list price, and less on 5 of the 6 prompts. Step 5 Preview was faster: 62 s less in total, and faster on 4 of the 6 prompts.

In the recording, both Breakout games play.

Rebuild this screen experiment: Claude Opus 5.5's rebuild matched the screenshot at 89%; Step 5 Preview was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Claude Opus 5.5's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Step 5 Preview was not in it.

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