Type
Spec
Rate
Input
per 1M prompt tokens
$1.00
Output
per 1M generated tokens
$2.70
Implicit cache read
per 1M cached input tokens
$0.10
Web Search (Linkup)
per call when invoked
$0.013
Step 5 Preview and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 side by side: specs, capabilities, parameters, and live pricing from the EmpirioLabs catalog.
StepFun 
Alibaba Cloud Text GenerationStep 5 Preview from StepFun and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 from Alibaba Cloud are both in the Text Generation category, available through the EmpirioLabs API.
| Spec | Step 5 Preview | Qwen3.8 Max 0902 |
|---|---|---|
| Model ID | step-5-preview | qwen3-8-max-0902 |
| Author | StepFun | Alibaba Cloud |
| Released | Sep 15, 2026 | Sep 2, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.02M tokens | 983.6K tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Input | Text Image Video | Text Image Video |
| Output | Text | Text |
| Structured output | JSON Schema | JSON Schema |
| Region | International | Singapore |
| Endpoints | POST /v1/chat/completions POST /v1/responses POST /v1/messages POST /v1beta/models/step-5-preview:generateContent | POST /v1/chat/completions POST /v1/responses POST /v1/messages POST /v1beta/models/qwen3-8-max-0902:generateContent |
| Capabilities |
Live rates from the EmpirioLabs catalog for both models. Each rate card always matches what the API charges.
Request parameters each model lists on EmpirioLabs, with the allowed values or range where one applies. A dash marks a parameter the model does not list.
| Parameter | Step 5 Preview | Qwen3.8 Max 0902 |
|---|---|---|
| temperature | 0 to 2 Default: 0.5 | 0 to 1.99 Default: 0.7 |
| top_p | 0.01 to 1 Default: 0.9 | 0 to 1 Default: 0.9 |
| max_tokens | 1 to 131072 Default: 4096 | 1 to 131072 |
| stop | array | string |
| frequency_penalty | -2 to 2 Default: 0 | - |
| reasoning_effort | low, medium, high Default: low | none, low, medium, high, max |
| reasoning_format | general, deepseek-style Default: general | - |
| tools | array | - |
| tool_choice | string | - |
| response_format | object | enum |
| web_search_linkup | boolean Default: false | - |
| disable_formatting | boolean Default: false | boolean Default: false |
| enable_thinking | - | boolean Default: true |
| thinking_budget | - | 1 to 262144 |
| preserve_thinking | - | boolean Default: true |
| seed | - | 0 to 2147483647 |
Supports text, image, and video input with a 1M token context, parallel function tools, strict JSON schema output, and reasoning_effort low, medium, or high. Prompt-cache hits are billed at the cache-read rate. Video input supports MP4 under 128 MB, with clips under 5 minutes recommended. This is a preview release, so its behavior and identifier may change.
Text, image, and video input are supported. Web search, web extractor, code interpreter, text-to-image search, and image-to-image search are optional built-in tools exposed through tool_* parameters. Web search, text-to-image search, and image-to-image search add $0.02 for each invoked call; web extractor and code interpreter run at no extra cost. Web extractor requires web search, and both web extractor and code interpreter require thinking. A single request can invoke a tool more than once, and each invoked call is billed. Thinking tokens are billed as output tokens. This id is pinned to the September 2, 2026 snapshot and will not change. The rolling qwen3-8-max id serves the same build since September 5, 2026 and will move to future snapshots.
Step 5 Preview serves the OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions API. Point any OpenAI SDK at https://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1 with your EmpirioLabs API key and use the model id step-5-preview. Both models are called through the same endpoint. Set model to step-5-preview or qwen3-8-max-0902. Get an API key from the EmpirioLabs dashboard.
curl https://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $EMPIRIOLABS_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "step-5-preview",
"messages": [
{"role": "user", "content": "Write a haiku about the ocean."}
]
}'Step 5 Preview is the newer release (Sep 15, 2026); Qwen3.8 Max 0902 was released on Sep 2, 2026. Step 5 Preview has the larger context window: 1.02M tokens, against 983.6K for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. Capabilities listed only for Step 5 Preview: video, prompt cache. The specs, rate cards, and parameters on this page come from the live EmpirioLabs catalog.
Step 5 Preview is the newer release (Sep 15, 2026); Qwen3.8 Max 0902 was released on Sep 2, 2026.
Step 5 Preview lists the lower rate for Input (per 1M prompt tokens) and Output (per 1M generated tokens). Both live rate cards are on this page and always match what the API charges.
Yes. Both models use POST /v1/chat/completions with the same EmpirioLabs API key, so most integrations switch by changing the model value. Check the parameters table on this page first if you rely on a model-specific parameter.
Yes. Open each model in the EmpirioLabs playground and run the same prompt on both, with the parameters the API exposes.
Check out our pricing or reach out if you want your own model deployed on our stack.