ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen3 Max

Too close to call on our weighted score (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 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

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

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (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 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Qwen3 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6468
Price25%4732
Inputs & features15%3525
Context window10%2437
Overall100%51/10050/100
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 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekQwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0142.4 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#91 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%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)$1.20
Output$2.60 (best)$6.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$2.40
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-max
API providers1216 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Apr 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 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or Qwen3 Max?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (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 or Qwen3 Max?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). 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 $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) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (140.0–144.6 vs 136.2–140.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 Max 72.6%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 Max 73.3%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 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. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, 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

Related comparisons