LOADING DATASHEET
GROUNDED IN REAL HUMAN CONVERSATIONSYOUR BENCH
Step 3
◆ OPEN
by Unknown
OPEN WEIGHTSLOCALAPI
RANKED #20 OF 267 ASSISTANTS · OVERALL #33 OF 6,566 · VIBE SCORE 7.0 · 1,069 VOICES
Compact GPT model for low-latency assistance and high-volume workloads
HAPPY9.8
37 mentions
SAD5.2
9 mentions
VIBE TRAJECTORY
26 weeks · 851 voices
QUIETLY DEGRADING
Recent vibe and chatter are both sliding.
RUN IT ON YOUR OWN MACHINE
Open weights: download Step 3 once and it's yours. No subscription, no rate limits, works offline.
321B MoE parameters (38B active), FP8 weighs about 326 GB and Q4 requires about 180 GB
- BARE MINIMUM
Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB Unified Memory)
192 GB UNIFIED MEMORY
~$5,500 USEDToo large for single consumer GPUs. Runs Q4/IQ4 MoE quantized via CPU/Unified memory offload at very low speeds around 3
- SWEET SPOT
Custom 8x NVIDIA RTX 3090 24GB Server
192 GB VRAM
~$6,800 USEDQ4 MoE quantization distributed across 8 GPUs via vLLM or SGLang, ~20 to 30 tok/s, 32k context
- FULL POWER
8x NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB Server
384 GB VRAM
~$55,000 NEWOfficial FP8 format at full native speed, 40+ tok/s, 64k full context length
LEARN HOW TO SET IT UP
WILL MY BOX RUN STEP 3?
The three cards above are researched picks. Search the machine you actually have — we only say yes if it should reply at a usable speed, not just load the weights and crawl.
HARDWARE PICKS & PRICES ARE RESEARCHED FROM THE LIVE WEB AND REFRESHED AUTOMATICALLY. TREAT THEM AS BALLPARK, NOT GOSPEL.
WHAT CAN YOU ACTUALLY DO WITH IT?
Everyday jobs on each of those rigs: how long Step 3 takes, and how good the crowd says it is at that kind of work.
| THE JOB | BARE MINIMUMMac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB Unified Memory) | SWEET SPOTCustom 8x NVIDIA RTX 3090 24GB Server | FULL POWER8x NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada 48GB Server |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write an emaila paragraph or two, drafted from a one-line brief | —★★★★★ | ~20 S★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Summarize a documenta long report boiled down to the points that matter | —★★★★★ | ~60 S★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a websitea small landing page, markup and styles together | —★★★★★ | ~5.3 MIN★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a backendan API with routes, storage and tests | —★★★★★ | ~17 MIN★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a gamea playable browser game in one file | —★★★★★ | ~10 MIN★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
STARS ARE THE COMMUNITY SCORE FOR THAT KIND OF WORK, DOCKED FOR HOW SQUASHED THE WEIGHTS GET AT EACH TIER. A DASH MEANS NO SPEED WAS RESEARCHED FOR THAT RIG. TIMES ARE COMPUTED FROM RESEARCHED SPEEDS. BALLPARK, NOT GOSPEL.
WHAT THE INTERNET SAYS
The internet is split on Step 3. Biggest praise: writing. Biggest gripe: working when you need it.
929 POSTS · 140 COMMENTS · REDDIT · GITHUB · STACK OVERFLOW · HACKER NEWS · X · LEMMY · DEV.TO · BLUESKY · DEV FORUMS · BLOG
PEOPLE LOVE
- Usually gives correct answers (3 mentions)
- Popular for coding help (3 mentions)
- Good at writing and wording things (4 mentions)
PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT
- Outages, errors, or limits get in the way (5 mentions)
- It can feel slow (4 mentions)
- People find it expensive (3 mentions)
- Loses the thread in long chats (2 mentions)
TOPIC BY TOPIC
- Working when you need itA SORE SPOT
1 thumbs up · 5 thumbs down
- SpeedA SORE SPOT
1 thumbs up · 4 thumbs down
- PriceMIXED FEELINGS
2 thumbs up · 3 thumbs down
- Getting facts rightMOSTLY POSITIVE
3 thumbs up · 2 thumbs down
- Help with codeMOSTLY POSITIVE
3 thumbs up · 2 thumbs down
- WritingPEOPLE LOVE THIS
4 thumbs up · 0 thumbs down
- Long conversationsA SORE SPOT
1 thumbs up · 2 thumbs down
LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE?
Checked picks first: tags say why you would switch, stars say how fully each one stands in for Step 3.
Gemini 3.7 Flash
Grok 4.6
Qwen3.8 27B
GLM 5.3> SOURCES (12)
- REDDIT · 2025-03-22 · 2903 UPVOTESThree prompts to get ChatGPT to become an instant expert in anything.
Three prompts to get ChatGPT to become an instant expert in anything.
- REDDIT · 2024-02-09 · 1036 UPVOTES”AI shader” workflow
”AI shader” workflow
- REDDIT · 2025-10-15 · 579 UPVOTESI tested 1,000 ChatGPT prompts in 2025. Here's the exact formula that consistently beats everything else (with examples)
I tested 1,000 ChatGPT prompts in 2025. Here's the exact formula that consistently beats everything else (with examples)
- REDDIT · 2025-05-05 · 554 UPVOTESThis prompt can teach you almost everything.
This prompt can teach you almost everything.
- REDDIT · 2026-03-14 · 502 UPVOTESI built a Claude skill that writes perfect prompts and hit #1 twice on r/PromptEngineering. Here is the setup for the people who need a…
I built a Claude skill that writes perfect prompts and hit #1 twice on r/PromptEngineering. Here is the setup for the people who need a setup guide.
- X · 2026-08-14 · 433 UPVOTESSTOP PAYING FOR XAI API ⛔️ you can use grok 4.6 for free with unlimited accounts 😳 an open source project auto-register
STOP PAYING FOR XAI API ⛔️ you can use grok 4.6 for free with unlimited accounts 😳 an open source project auto-register
- REDDIT · 2023-09-29 · 423 UPVOTESHow to use IP-adapter controlnets for consistent faces
How to use IP-adapter controlnets for consistent faces
- REDDIT · 2026-08-16 · 371 UPVOTESThe dream is to reach 200GB VRAM
The dream is to reach 200GB VRAM
- REDDIT · 2026-05-11 · 342 UPVOTESZIT I2I "Character LORA Transformation" Workflow
ZIT I2I "Character LORA Transformation" Workflow
- REDDIT · 2023-11-27 · 287 UPVOTESDid I accidentally automate myself out of the job?
Did I accidentally automate myself out of the job?
- REDDIT · 2024-07-19 · 237 UPVOTESFake ChatGPT Results on US Medical Licensing Exam reported on Television by CNBC
Fake ChatGPT Results on US Medical Licensing Exam reported on Television by CNBC
- REDDIT · 2022-07-28 · 209 UPVOTESIt took me 1 day to create a program, using GPT-3, to create a highly convincing small army of bots to post on Reddit: Here's how I did it
It took me 1 day to create a program, using GPT-3, to create a highly convincing small army of bots to post on Reddit: Here's how I did it