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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.5 Instant vs Qwen3 Max

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-5.5 Instant 51, Qwen3 Max 50). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-5.5 Instant

    Released May 5, 2026

    51/100
    • ECI142.5
    • Price$5.00 / $30.00
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.5 Instant

  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 1 points (GPT-5.5 Instant 51/100, Qwen3 Max 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.5 Instant for raw capability and Qwen3 Max on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.5 InstantCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 Instant 142.5 · Qwen3 Max 142.4
  • Lowest priceQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max $2.40 · GPT-5.5 Instant $11.25 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.5 InstantGPT-5.5 Instant 400,000 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-5.5 InstantGPT-5.5 Instant: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 Max: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.5 InstantQwen3 Max
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6968
Price25%032
Inputs & features15%8025
Context window10%4437
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.

GPT-5.5 Instant vs Qwen3 Max specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.5 InstantOpenAIQwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)142.5 (best)142.4
ECI rank#89 of 148 (best)#91 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions82.5% (best)72.6%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics26.3% (best)19.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics68.1%73.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—48.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$5.00$1.20 (best)
Output$30.00$6.00 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$11.25$2.40 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 3 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-max
API providers316 (best)
ReleasedMay 5, 2026Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffDec 1, 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.

  • GPT-5.5 Instant$110.00
  • Qwen3 Max$24.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.5 Instant or Qwen3 Max?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (GPT-5.5 Instant 51/100, Qwen3 Max 50/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.5 Instant for raw capability and Qwen3 Max on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.5 Instant or Qwen3 Max?

Qwen3 Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.5 Instant costs $5.00 input / $30.00 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.40 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max versus $11.25 for GPT-5.5 Instant (4.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.5 Instant scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.5 Instant 142.5 (#89 of 148) and Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (140.0–145.3 vs 140.0–144.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.5 Instant 82.5%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.5 Instant 26.3%, Qwen3 Max 19.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 Max 73.3%, GPT-5.5 Instant 68.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.5 Instant and Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.5 Instant 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?

GPT-5.5 Instant has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 Max. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.5 Instant up to 128,000, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.5 Instant accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 Max accepts text. GPT-5.5 Instant handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5.5 Instant and Qwen3 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.5 Instant is the newest, released May 5, 2026. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.5 Instant Dec 1, 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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