Step 5 Preview vs Mistral Large 4
Step 5 Preview took 10 min 44 s and $0.33 at list price, Mistral Large 4 took 51 min 22 s and $0.61 at list price. Mistral Large 4 took 4.8× as long and cost 1.9× as much.
Step 5 Preview
StepFun · $2.7/M out · 155 HN pts
Mistral Large 4
Mistral · $2.1/M out · 4,675 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
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.
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.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
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.
Patchbay sits in a former warehouse on Rotterdam's northern edge, where the Maas meets the industrial harbour. Three of us work here—no more, no less—surrounded by oscilloscopes, desoldering stations, and the persistent hum of transformers. We repair vintage synthesizers. That is the whole business.
We are not a museum, and we are not a factory. Every Minimoog, ARP 2600, or Juno that crosses our bench receives the same stubborn attention: traced schematics, replaced capacitors, calibrated voltages, hours spent listening for the note that was never quite right. The machines arrive broken, silent, forgotten. They leave singing.
Rotterdam built its reputation on moving heavy things and keeping them moving. We apply the same pragmatism to circuits that predate us by forty years. If it made sound once, it can make sound again. That is the promise we keep, solder joint by solder joint.
Specs and numbers
| Step 5 Preview | Mistral Large 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | StepFun | Mistral |
| Made in | China | France |
| Released | 8 Oct 2026 | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $1 | $0.7 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $2.7 | $2.1 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | 155 | 4,675 |
| Time for the six prompts | 10 min 44 s | 51 min 22 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.33 | $0.61 |
Step 5 Preview was cheaper: $0.28 less at list price, and less on 4 of the 6 prompts. Step 5 Preview was faster: 40 min 38 s less in total, and faster on 5 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: Mistral Large 4's rebuild matched the screenshot at 46%; Step 5 Preview was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Mistral Large 4's game passed 2 of 5 checks; Step 5 Preview was not in it.





