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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniMax-M2 Her vs Qwen3-VL Plus

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 45 on our weighted score.

  1. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M2 Her

    Released Jan 23, 2026

    45/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context66K
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against MiniMax-M2 Her (45). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 priceMiniMax-M2 HerMiniMax-M2 Her $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · MiniMax-M2 Her 65,536 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusMiniMax-M2 Her: Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniMax-M2 HerQwen3-VL Plus
Price50%6362
Inputs & features30%3560
Context window20%1237
Overall100%45/10056/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

MiniMax-M2 Her vs Qwen3-VL Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniMax-M2 HerMiniMaxQwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.20 (best)
Output$1.20 (best)$1.60
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.525 (best)$0.55
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 4 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window65,536 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output2,048 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-vl-plus
API providers46 (best)
ReleasedJan 23, 2026Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 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.

  • MiniMax-M2 Her$5.40
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniMax-M2 Her or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against MiniMax-M2 Her (45). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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, MiniMax-M2 Her or Qwen3-VL Plus?

MiniMax-M2 Her is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 4 API providers). 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 $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2 Her versus $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. MiniMax-M2 Her 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 MiniMax-M2 Her and Qwen3-VL Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both 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 65,536 for MiniMax-M2 Her. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M2 Her up to 2,048, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniMax-M2 Her accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. MiniMax-M2 Her and Qwen3-VL Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

MiniMax-M2 Her is the newest, released Jan 23, 2026. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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.