Compare / MiniCPM-SALA vs Step3-VL-10B
MiniCPM-SALA vs Step3-VL-10B
Updated November 2026
Verdict
MiniCPM-SALA scores higher on the Small LM Index: 56.9 vs 53.2, although their likely ranges overlap, so the lead is not certain. The two labs report no benchmarks in common, so the comparison relies on the index model’s estimates. Both need about 8 GB of memory at 4-bit quantization. Neither model has a hosted API on OpenRouter, so you would run both yourself.
Pick MiniCPM-SALA if…
- you want the strongest model overall
- you work with long documents
Pick Step3-VL-10B if…
- you need image input
Specifications
| MiniCPM-SALA | Step3-VL-10B | |
|---|---|---|
| Small LM Index | 56.9 (likely 54–60) | 53.2 (likely 40–64) |
| Lab | OpenBMB (MiniCPM) · China | StepFun · China |
| Released | 2026-02-11 | 2026-01 |
| Parameters | 9.5B (dense) | 10B (dense) |
| Memory at 4-bit | ~6.7 GB | ~8 GB |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 64K tokens |
| Input | text | text, image |
| Reasoning | Hybrid (thinking on/off) | Always thinks |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| API price / 1M tokens | Self-host only | Self-host only |
| Hugging Face downloads (30 days) | 3.7K | — |
Benchmarks
Higher is better. Bold marks the winner where both labs report a score. ≈ marks the index model's estimate for a score that wasn't reported, ✓ an independent measurement and * a score measured by another lab.
| Benchmark | MiniCPM-SALA | Step3-VL-10B |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro Knowledge | 67.0 | ≈ 73 |
| GPQA Diamond Knowledge | ≈ 67 | 69.0✓ |
| Humanity's Last Exam Reasoning | ≈ 9 | 10.8✓ |
| AIME Math | 78.3 | ≈ 70 |
| LiveCodeBench Coding | 52.0 | ≈ 56 |
| τ²-Bench Agentic | — | 16.1✓ |
| IFBench Instruction following | — | 50.2✓ |
| IFEval Instruction following | 76.3 | — |
| AA-LCR Long context | — | 0.0✓ |
Scores are mostly reported by each lab with its own settings, so small gaps are noise. See the methodology. Open in the interactive comparison to add more models.
Questions
Which is better, MiniCPM-SALA or Step3-VL-10B?
MiniCPM-SALA scores higher on the Small LM Index: 56.9 vs 53.2, although their likely ranges overlap, so the lead is not certain. The two labs report no benchmarks in common, so the comparison relies on the index model’s estimates.
Which is cheaper to run?
Neither model has a hosted API on OpenRouter, so you would run both yourself. Both need about 8 GB of memory at 4-bit quantization.
Which has the longer context window?
MiniCPM-SALA has the longer context window: 1M tokens against 64K.
Can I use MiniCPM-SALA and Step3-VL-10B commercially?
Both are released under the Apache-2.0 license. Apache 2.0 and MIT allow commercial use; other licenses can add conditions, so read the license before shipping a product.