MiniMax-M2.5 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B vs Qwen3.6 27B
Qwen3.6 27B comes out ahead, 65 to 62 and 61 on our weighted score, though MiniMax-M2.5 is 2.6× cheaper per token.
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.5
61/100- ECI146.7
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
NVIDIANemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B
62/100- ECI146.2
- Price$0.50 / $2.50
- Context1M
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 27B
65/100- ECI146.5
- Price$0.60 / $3.60
- Context262K
Qwen3.6 27B is our pick
Qwen3.6 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (62) and MiniMax-M2.5 (61). It leads on inputs & features. MiniMax-M2.5 wins on price. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityMiniMax-M2.5Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 · Qwen3.6 27B 146.5 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 146.2
- Lowest priceMiniMax-M2.5MiniMax-M2.5 $0.525 · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B $1.00 · Qwen3.6 27B $1.35 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 · MiniMax-M2.5 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 27BMiniMax-M2.5: Text · Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B: Text · Qwen3.6 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | MiniMax-M2.5 | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B | Qwen3.6 27B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 73 | 74 |
| Price | 25% | 63 | 50 | 44 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 45 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 60 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 61/100 | 62/100 | 65/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55BNVIDIA | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.7 (best) | 146.2 | 146.5 |
| ECI rank | #66 of 148 (best) | #70 of 148 | #68 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 85.4% | 85.9% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 35.1% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 86.7% | 91.1% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $0.50 | $0.60 |
| Output | $1.20 (best) | $2.50 | $3.60 |
| Cached input | $0.03 (best) | $0.15 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.525 (best) | $1.00 | $1.35 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Nvidia API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 204,800 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | MiniMax-M2.5 | nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b | qwen3.6-27b |
| API providers | 21 | 21 | 27 (best) |
| Released | Feb 12, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 | Apr 22, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- MiniMax-M2.5$5.40
- Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B$10.00
- Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: MiniMax-M2.5, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B or Qwen3.6 27B?
Qwen3.6 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (62) and MiniMax-M2.5 (61). It leads on inputs & features. MiniMax-M2.5 wins on price. Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.5, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B or Qwen3.6 27B?
MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B costs $0.50 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price); Qwen3.6 27B costs $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2.5 versus $1.00 for Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (1.9× as much) and $1.35 for Qwen3.6 27B (2.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 (#66 of 148), Qwen3.6 27B 146.5 (#68 of 148) and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B 146.2 (#70 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (142.3–147.9 vs 144.2–147.9), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M2.5, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B and Qwen3.6 27B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M2.5 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?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B and 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072, Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B up to 128,000, Qwen3.6 27B up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
MiniMax-M2.5 accepts text; Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B accepts text; Qwen3.6 27B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 27B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B is the newest, released Jun 4, 2026. Qwen3.6 27B came out Apr 22, 2026; MiniMax-M2.5 came out Feb 12, 2026.
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.
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