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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Qwen3 Max

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 235B-A22B 51, DeepSeek-R1 51, Qwen3 Max 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100, Qwen3 Max 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Max for raw capability and DeepSeek-R1 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 MaxCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 Max 142.4 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Qwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%646568
Price25%474632
Inputs & features15%353525
Context window10%242437
Overall100%51/10051/10050/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Qwen3 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0139.4142.4 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#103 of 148#91 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%70.7%72.6% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——19.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%—73.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions——48.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$0.70 (best)$1.20
Output$2.60 (best)$2.80$6.00
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$1.23$2.40
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens16,384 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-235b-a22bqwen3-max
API providers12716 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 28, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Apr 2025Apr 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
  • Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
  • Qwen3 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3 Max?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100, Qwen3 Max 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Max for raw capability and DeepSeek-R1 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3 Max?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Qwen3 235B-A22B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 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 $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (1× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 Max scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148), Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (140.0–144.6 vs 135.2–140.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 Max 72.6%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%, Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, Qwen3 235B-A22B and Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 Max leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. 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 235B-A22B and 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; Qwen3 Max accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3 235B-A22B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Max is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3 235B-A22B came out Apr 28, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, Qwen3 Max 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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