GLM-4.5-Air vs MiniMax-M2 vs Qwen3-VL Plus
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 49 and 48 on our weighted score, though GLM-4.5-Air is 23% cheaper per token.
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.5-Air
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.10
- Context131K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against GLM-4.5-Air (49) and MiniMax-M2 (48). It leads on inputs & features and context window. GLM-4.5-Air wins on price. 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 priceGLM-4.5-AirGLM-4.5-Air $0.425 · MiniMax-M2 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · MiniMax-M2 204,800 · GLM-4.5-Air 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusGLM-4.5-Air: Text · MiniMax-M2: Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
- Self-hostingGLM-4.5-Air and MiniMax-M2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GLM-4.5-Air | MiniMax-M2 | Qwen3-VL Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 68 | 63 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 35 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 32 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 48/100 | 56/100 |
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 | GLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu) | MiniMax-M2MiniMax | Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.30 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.10 (best) | $1.20 | $1.60 |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.425 (best) | $0.525 | $0.55 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 204,800 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 98,304 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | glm-4.5-air | MiniMax-M2 | qwen3-vl-plus |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 13 (best) | 6 |
| Released | Jul 28, 2025 | Oct 27, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 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.
- GLM-4.5-Air$4.20
- MiniMax-M2$5.40
- Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-4.5-Air, MiniMax-M2 or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against GLM-4.5-Air (49) and MiniMax-M2 (48). It leads on inputs & features and context window. GLM-4.5-Air wins on price. 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, GLM-4.5-Air, MiniMax-M2 or Qwen3-VL Plus?
GLM-4.5-Air is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). MiniMax-M2 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price); Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.425 per million tokens for GLM-4.5-Air versus $0.525 for MiniMax-M2 (1.2× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GLM-4.5-Air has not been scored yet, MiniMax-M2 has not been scored yet and Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-4.5-Air, MiniMax-M2 and Qwen3-VL Plus 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-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2 and 131,072 for GLM-4.5-Air. Maximum output per response: GLM-4.5-Air up to 98,304, MiniMax-M2 up to 131,072, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-4.5-Air accepts text; MiniMax-M2 accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
GLM-4.5-Air and MiniMax-M2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 is the newest, released Oct 27, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; GLM-4.5-Air came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.5-Air Apr 2025, Qwen3-VL Plus 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.
