Scaledown lists 2 models and Stepfun 4. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Scaledown | Stepfun | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 2 | 4 |
| Models with published pricing | 2 | 4 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.03 | $0.44 |
| Cheapest paid model | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash ($0.15) |
| Longest context | ScaleDown: Extract (1M) | StepFun: Step 5 Preview (1M) |
| Free models | 0 | 1 |
| Newest model | ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13) | StepFun: Step 5 Preview (2026-10-08) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Scaledown | Stepfun |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract | $13.50 with StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract | $15.00 with StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | no suitable model | $15.60 with StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract | $9.80 with StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract | $5.30 with StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash |
| You need | Scaledown | Stepfun |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash ($0.15) |
| With tool calling | none listed | StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash ($0.15) |
| With image input | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | StepFun: Step 3.7 Flash ($0.44) |
| With reasoning mode | none listed | StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash ($0.15) |
| 128K+ context | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash ($0.15) |
| 1M+ context | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | StepFun: Step 5 Preview ($1.43) |
| Model type | Scaledown | Stepfun |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+file->text | 2 | 0 |
| text+image+video->text | 0 | 2 |
| text->text | 0 | 2 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Scaledown | Stepfun |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 1 |
| Under $0.50 | 2 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 1 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.44 for Stepfun. The cheapest paid models are ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03 and StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash at $0.15.
It depends on the job: Stepfun offers the broader line-up (2 models vs 4), Scaledown the lower typical price. The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Stepfun: Scaledown lists 2 models and Stepfun lists 4.
It is a tie: Scaledown's longest is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M tokens; Stepfun's is StepFun: Step 5 Preview at 1M.
Scaledown: none. Stepfun: 1 free model (e.g. StepFun: Step 3.5 Flash (free)).
Scaledown: 2 of 2 models accept images. Stepfun: 2 of 4.