Apertus 70B vs Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 34, Apertus 70B 33, Qwen3 Max 31). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Swiss AI
Apertus 70B
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.82 / $2.42
- Context66K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
31/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)
34/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $6.00
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 34/100, Apertus 70B 33/100, Qwen3 Max 31/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 70B on price and Qwen3 Max for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceApertus 70BApertus 70B $1.22 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) $1.88 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 131,072 · Apertus 70B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsApertus 70B: Text · Qwen3 Max: Text · Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking): Text
- Self-hostingApertus 70B and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Publishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Apertus 70B | Qwen3 Max | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 46 | 32 | 37 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 12 | 37 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 33/100 | 31/100 | 34/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Apertus 70BSwiss AI | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)Alibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | 142.4 | — |
| ECI rank | — | #91 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 72.6% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 19.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 73.3% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 48.8% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.82 | $1.20 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $2.42 (best) | $6.00 | $6.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.22 (best) | $2.40 | $1.88 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | qwen3-max | qwen3-next-80b-a3b-thinking |
| API providers | 3 | 16 (best) | 10 |
| Released | Sep 2, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 2025 | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Apertus 70B$13.04
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)$17.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Apertus 70B, Qwen3 Max or Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) 34/100, Apertus 70B 33/100, Qwen3 Max 31/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Apertus 70B on price and Qwen3 Max for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Apertus 70B, Qwen3 Max or Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking)?
Apertus 70B is cheaper at $0.82 input / $2.42 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) costs $0.50 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.22 per million tokens for Apertus 70B versus $1.88 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) (1.5× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Apertus 70B has not been scored yet, Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4 and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Apertus 70B, Qwen3 Max and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3 Max has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) and 65,536 for Apertus 70B. Maximum output per response: Apertus 70B up to 8,192, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Apertus 70B accepts text; Qwen3 Max accepts text; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Apertus 70B and Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Apertus 70B came out Sep 2, 2025; Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) came out Sep 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Apertus 70B Sep 2025, Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (Thinking) Apr 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
