# Novita AI vs StepFun

> StepFun is a Shanghai lab with cheap Apache 2.0 multimodal models. Novita is a San Francisco host with 200+ models that adds new open releases quickly.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/novita-ai-vs-stepfun · By The Subconscious Team · Updated September 30, 2026

## How they compare

StepFun makes models; Novita hosts other people's. StepFun's Step 3.7 Flash is a 198B mixture-of-experts vision-language model with 11B active parameters, 256K context and an Apache 2.0 license, at $0.20 in and $1.15 out on StepFun's API. Its first-party inference is China-hosted, with thin Western distribution. Novita serves 200+ open models from San Francisco and is known for day-zero support of new releases, such as launching Gemma 4 as Google's partner. Step 3.7 Flash is not named in Novita's catalog, but Novita's dedicated endpoints run any Hugging Face model.

So the practical question is where to run a Step model. Calling StepFun directly is simplest and gets reasoning levels, tool use and structured outputs as designed. Running Apache 2.0 weights on a Novita dedicated endpoint keeps inference off China-hosted servers and adds LoRA hot swapping, at a 99.5% SLA. Novita also covers text, image, video and speech generation from other labs, which StepFun does not. StepFun trails frontier models on hard multimodal reasoning.

## What each one does

### Novita AI

Novita AI is a San Francisco inference cloud founded in late 2023 by Frank Lewis and Junyu Huang, and it competes on price and breadth. Its serverless API covers 200+ open models across LLMs, image, video, speech, voice cloning and embeddings, with LLM prices starting at $0.02 per million tokens. The API speaks both OpenAI and Anthropic formats. It became an official Hugging Face Inference Partner in April 2026 and was the day-zero launch partner for Google's Gemma 4.

### StepFun

StepFun is a Shanghai AI lab known for efficient multimodal models, with a mix of proprietary API models and open-weight releases. Its current workhorse, Step 3.7 Flash, came out in May 2026 as a 198B mixture-of-experts vision-language model with only 11B active parameters. It has 256K context, selectable reasoning levels, tool use and structured outputs, and it ships under Apache 2.0. StepFun's own API prices it at $0.20 in and $1.15 out per million tokens, and OpenRouter carries it too.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Novita AI for

- Hosting open weights outside China
- Mixing many labs' models on one API
- Image and video generation, not just understanding

### Choose StepFun for

- Cheap vision and video understanding at 256K
- First-party Step models with reasoning levels
- Self-hosting a small-active-parameter model

## At a glance

| Attribute | Novita AI | StepFun |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open (Apache 2.0) and API models |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemma 4 | Step 3.7 Flash, Step3 |
| Speed | ~36 tok/s on DeepSeek V4 Pro | ~128 tok/s on Step 3.7 Flash |
| Price | From $0.02 per 1M; batch 50% off | $0.20 in, $1.15 out (Step 3.7 Flash) |
| Customization | Hot-swappable LoRA adapters | Open weights to fine-tune |
| Deployment | Serverless, GPU cloud, dedicated | First-party API, OpenRouter |
| Long context | Full 1M on DeepSeek V4 Pro | 256K |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Novita AI and StepFun?

StepFun is a Shanghai lab with cheap Apache 2.0 multimodal models. Novita is a San Francisco host with 200+ models that adds new open releases quickly.

### When should I choose Novita AI over StepFun?

Hosting open weights outside China; Mixing many labs' models on one API; Image and video generation, not just understanding.

### When should I choose StepFun over Novita AI?

Cheap vision and video understanding at 256K; First-party Step models with reasoning levels; Self-hosting a small-active-parameter model.

### Is Novita AI or StepFun cheaper?

Novita AI: From $0.02 per 1M; batch 50% off. StepFun: $0.20 in, $1.15 out (Step 3.7 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Novita AI or StepFun?

Novita AI: Full 1M on DeepSeek V4 Pro. StepFun: 256K.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs Novita AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-novita-ai.md), [Subconscious vs StepFun](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-stepfun.md).

Full profiles: [Novita AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/novita-ai.md), [StepFun](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/stepfun.md).