LOADING DATASHEET
GROUNDED IN REAL HUMAN CONVERSATIONSYOUR BENCH
Step 3
◆ OPEN
by NanoGPT
OPEN WEIGHTSLOCALWRITING HELPCODING ASSISTANT
RANKED #14 OF 243 ASSISTANTS · OVERALL #24 OF 6,468 · VIBE SCORE 7.1 · 953 VOICES
An open AI tool built for people who need clear writing and coding assistance.
HAPPY10.0
2 mentions
SAD-
0 mentions
VIBE TRAJECTORY
26 weeks · 775 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 total MoE parameters with 38B active, a Q4 quant requires about 180 GB to 195 GB of total memory
- BARE MINIMUM
Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra with 192 GB unified memory
192 GB UNIFIED MEMORY
~$3400 USEDModel is too large for single-card consumer GPUs, runs Q4 quant at around 8 to 14 tok/s with 8k context off unified RAM
- SWEET SPOT
Dual Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada workstation (96 GB VRAM) with 256 G
96 GB VRAM PLUS 256 GB SYSTEM RAM
~$7500 USEDQ4 quant with full GPU layer offloading or hybrid host offload, 18 to 25 tok/s, 32k context
- FULL POWER
8x Nvidia RTX 4090 24GB enterprise rack or 4x Nvidia A100 80
192 GB TO 320 GB VRAM
~$16000 USEDFull precision BF16 or uncompressed 8-bit, 40+ tok/s at full 65k context window
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 MINIMUMApple Mac Studio M2 Ultra with 192 GB unified memory | SWEET SPOTDual Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada workstation (96 GB VRAM) with 256 G | FULL POWER8x Nvidia RTX 4090 24GB enterprise rack or 4x Nvidia A100 80 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write an emaila paragraph or two, drafted from a one-line brief | ~45 S★★★★★ | ~23 S★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Summarize a documenta long report boiled down to the points that matter | ~2.3 MIN★★★★★ | ~70 S★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a websitea small landing page, markup and styles together | ~12 MIN★★★★★ | ~6.2 MIN★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a backendan API with routes, storage and tests | ~38 MIN★★★★★ | ~19 MIN★★★★★ | —★★★★★ |
| Build a gamea playable browser game in one file | ~23 MIN★★★★★ | ~12 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
Users like Step 3 for writing and coding tasks, but note that it can feel slow and expensive. Some mention it makes up facts and loses context in longer conversations.
845 POSTS · 108 COMMENTS · REDDIT · GITHUB · STACK OVERFLOW · HACKER NEWS · X · LEMMY · DEV.TO · BLUESKY · DEV FORUMS · BLOG
PEOPLE LOVE
- Good at writing and wording things (5 mentions)
- Popular for coding help (3 mentions)
PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT
- People find it expensive (3 mentions)
- Sometimes makes things up (2 mentions)
- It can feel slow (2 mentions)
- Loses the thread in long chats (2 mentions)
TOPIC BY TOPIC
- PriceMIXED FEELINGS
2 thumbs up · 3 thumbs down
- WritingPEOPLE LOVE THIS
5 thumbs up · 0 thumbs down
- Getting facts rightMIXED FEELINGS
2 thumbs up · 2 thumbs down
- Help with codePEOPLE LOVE THIS
3 thumbs up · 1 thumbs down
- SpeedA SORE SPOT
1 thumbs up · 2 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> 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