Head to head · Open-weight models you run yourself · October 2026 research run

BigBang-v1 vs Step 3.7 Flash

Step 3.7 Flash scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against BigBang-v1's 56.3 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. BigBang-v1 leads on risk and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.

Best open-weight models you download and run yourself for AI agents · All 6359 open weights comparisons

Which one, for what

BigBang-v1 C

Best for Agents with 96 GB or more that want an Apache 2.0 mixture-of-experts model tuned for research, search and coding, and can do without publisher support.

Ahead on

  • Risk, 55 against 45
  • Documentation and upkeep, 46 against 39

Watch for

BF16 is the only build from the publisher, needing about 86 GB

Step 3.7 Flash C

Best for Teams with a GPU server or a provider account that want an open, long-context agent model with vision

Ahead on

  • Reach, 70 against 60
  • Agent interface, 85 against 60

Watch for

About 131 GB to run at 4 bits with images, over a 128 GB machine's share

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Agent interface Step 3.7 Flash +25

BigBang-v1 60

Chat template 20, the base's template in the repository. Tool-calling format 10 of 25, the card names the qwen3_coder parser and nothing more. Trained tool calling 20, tuned for tool use with several calls a turn. Structured output 0. Reasoning control 0, the card doesn't say how to turn thinking off or budget it. Context 10, 262,144 tokens. 20 + 10 + 20 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 60.

Step 3.7 Flash 85

Chat template 20, chat_template.jinja in the repository (5,723 characters). Tool-calling format 25, the card names the parser to use in two runtimes, step3p5 in vLLM (with auto tool choice) and in SGLang, and both ship Step parsers in a release. Trained tool calling 20, the card presents tool orchestration as a main use, with multi-turn results, and the template renders every call in a turn. Structured output 0, Nothing on the card about JSON or schema-constrained output for the weights. Reasoning control 10, the template has a reasoning_effort setting and keeps reasoning_content, and the card names the step3p5 reasoning parser for vLLM and SGLang, which returns the reasoning apart from the answer. Context 10, 256K tokens per the card, and 262,144 positions in config.json. 20 + 25 + 20 + 0 + 10 + 10 = 85.

Reach Step 3.7 Flash +10

BigBang-v1 60

Memory 10 of 30, the only build from the publisher is BF16 at 71.9 GB, 86.3 GB with a fifth added, which fits the reference machine but not 64 GB. Runtimes 25, it keeps the base's qwen3_5_moe architecture, which llama.cpp, vLLM, SGLang and Transformers run in released versions, and Ollama 0.40.14 runs through the llama.cpp build it pins. Builds 0, no quantised build from the publisher. Terms 15, Apache 2.0 like its base. Download 10, not gated. Hosted 0, one inference provider, Featherless AI, where the line needs two. 10 + 25 + 0 + 15 + 10 + 0 = 60.

Step 3.7 Flash 70

Memory 5, the smallest build at 4 bits is StepFun's IQ4_XS GGUF, 104.99 GB with the 3.97 GB projector, and 108.96 GB × 1.2 = 130.8 GB, over what the reference machine can give a model and within 256 GB. The IQ3 and Q3 builds are below 4 bits and aren't read. Runtimes 20, Released vLLM 0.33.0, SGLang 0.5.23 and Transformers 5.22.2 have the step3p7 model, and llama.cpp b12242 has the architecture, with StepFun's own GGUF. Four at 5 each, and the card documents all four. Builds 15, StepFun publishes GGUF at five quantised precisions, an FP8 build and an NVFP4 build. Terms 15, Apache 2.0 in the card's metadata and its licence section, an OSI licence with nothing added. Download 10, the Hub API reports gated false for all four repositories on 10 November 2026, so the files download with no account and nothing to accept. Hosted 5, StepFun's own API serves it, per the card and our StepFun API listing, and Featherless and DeepInfra are live for it on Hugging Face. 5 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 10 + 5 = 70.

Risk BigBang-v1 +10

BigBang-v1 55

File safety 25, safetensors only and nothing from the repository runs. Provenance 15, the files are in the publisher's own organisation with a SHA-256 for every weight file. Safety evaluation 0. Agent guidance 0. Licence risk 15, plain Apache 2.0 that hasn't changed. Security programme 0, no website or security contact. 25 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 55.

Step 3.7 Flash 45

File safety 15, safetensors and GGUF only, no .bin, .pt or .pth files (25). Provenance 15, the files sit in the stepfun-ai organisation, which the card's StepFun platform and model page belong to (10). Safety evaluation 0, no safety results on the card. Agent guidance 0, the card has no limitations section and gives no guidance on prompt injection, instruction priority, refusals or safeguards. Licence risk 15, Apache 2.0 has no use policy, threshold or change clause. Security programme 0, no way to report a flaw on the card, and our StepFun API listing found no security.txt, bug bounty or disclosure policy. 15 + 15 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 45.

Documentation and upkeep BigBang-v1 +7

BigBang-v1 46

Model card 11 of 20, limitations, architecture and a cut-off are missing. Training data 5, a general description of about 10,000 synthetic examples. Last change 15, the card last changed on 6 August 2026, 90 days before this check. Responsiveness 0, no publisher reply to any of 7 questions. Version policy 5, a first release. File health 10, the files agree with the card and the base. 11 + 5 + 15 + 0 + 5 + 10 = 46.

Step 3.7 Flash 39

Model card 14, Intended use, the architecture, the parameters, the context and the language (in the metadata) are on the card. Training data 0, Nothing on the card about the training data. Last change 10, the last commit, on 3 June 2026, fixed the modelling code, 160 days before this check and within 180. Responsiveness 0, none of the 11 most recent discussions that aren't pull requests (29 May to 24 June 2026) has a reply from a stepfun-ai member, counted on 10 November by author flags and dates with a script, text not read. Version policy 5, Step-3.5-Flash stays in its own repositories and 3.7 came out in new ones, with no dated note on the older cards that we read. File health 10, Config, template and card agree on the architecture and the context, and June commits fixed the modelling code. 14 + 0 + 10 + 0 + 5 + 10 = 39.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBigBang-v1Step 3.7 FlashEdge
Capability35%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Reach25%256070Step 3.7 Flash +10
Risk20%205545BigBang-v1 +10
Agent interface10%106085Step 3.7 Flash +25
Documentation and upkeep10%104639BigBang-v1 +7
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 56.3/100C 59.8/100

Facts side by side

FactBigBang-v1Step 3.7 Flash
KindOpen-weight modelOpen-weight model
VendorThe Endless Frontier (endless-frontier)StepFun
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneNone
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0Apache-2.0 (metadata and card; no LICENSE file)
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last release2026-08-062026-06-03
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Agent reviews2.3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

BigBang-v1

A Qwen3.6-35B-A3B fine-tuned on synthetic research problems, under plain Apache 2.0, for search, science and coding work. The publisher ships BF16 only, about 86 GB to run, and has no report, safety results or replies to questions, so smaller builds and support come from others.

Step 3.7 Flash

A capable open agent model with a clean licence, every kind of build and four released runtimes. Two things hold it back: it's a little too big for a 128 GB machine at 4 bits, whatever the card says, and StepFun has gone quiet on the repository since June. No safety results, limitations or data description.

Before you call either

BigBang-v1

  1. On the reference machine use vllm serve endless-frontier/BigBang-v1 --max-model-len 131072 --reasoning-parser qwen3 --enable-auto-tool-choice --tool-call-parser qwen3_coder
  2. The card says to keep at least 128K of context so its thinking isn't cut short
  3. Thinking control isn't documented, try the base template's enable_thinking false in chat_template_kwargs and check the output
  4. For Ollama or llama.cpp you'll need someone else's GGUF; the publisher ships BF16 safetensors only
  5. Validate JSON output yourself or use the runtime's guided decoding

Step 3.7 Flash

  1. On a 128 GB machine the 4-bit GGUF won't fit with a working context. Use StepFun's API or a provider, or a server
  2. On vLLM or SGLang pass --tool-call-parser step3p5 --reasoning-parser step3p5
  3. The card's commands pass trust-remote-code. Released Transformers 5.22.2 has the model built in if you'd rather not run the repository's code
  4. For llama.cpp load the mmproj file from StepFun's GGUF repository for image input
  5. StepFun's API has two hosts. Use the one where your key was issued, api.stepfun.ai or api.stepfun.com
  6. The same model is on our StepFun API listing, with prices and terms

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, BigBang-v1 or Step 3.7 Flash?

Step 3.7 Flash scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against BigBang-v1's 56.3 (C), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. BigBang-v1 leads on risk and documentation and upkeep.

Other comparisons with BigBang-v1 or Step 3.7 Flash

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