MiniMax-M2 vs Seed 1.6 vs Qwen3-VL Plus
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3-VL Plus 56, Seed 1.6 55, MiniMax-M2 48). The right pick depends on what you value most.
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6
55/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3-VL Plus 56/100, Seed 1.6 55/100, MiniMax-M2 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 on price and Qwen3-VL Plus for long inputs. 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 priceSeed 1.6Seed 1.6 $0.386 · MiniMax-M2 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Seed 1.6 256,000 · MiniMax-M2 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusMiniMax-M2: Text · Seed 1.6: Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | MiniMax-M2 | Seed 1.6 | Qwen3-VL Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 63 | 69 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 45 | 60 |
| Context window | 20% | 32 | 36 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 48/100 | 55/100 | 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 | MiniMax-M2MiniMax | Seed 1.6ByteDance Seed | Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.119 (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $1.20 | $1.19 (best) | $1.60 |
| Cached input | — | $0.024 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.525 | $0.386 (best) | $0.55 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 204,800 tokens | 256,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 64,000 tokens | 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 | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | MiniMax-M2 | doubao-seed-1-6-251015 | qwen3-vl-plus |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 2 | 6 |
| Released | Oct 27, 2025 | Oct 15, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | 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.
- MiniMax-M2$5.40
- Seed 1.6$3.56
- Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: MiniMax-M2, Seed 1.6 or Qwen3-VL Plus?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3-VL Plus 56/100, Seed 1.6 55/100, MiniMax-M2 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Seed 1.6 on price and Qwen3-VL Plus for long inputs. 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, Seed 1.6 or Qwen3-VL Plus?
Seed 1.6 is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark 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 $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 versus $0.525 for MiniMax-M2 (1.4× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. MiniMax-M2 has not been scored yet, Seed 1.6 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, Seed 1.6 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 256,000 for Seed 1.6 and 204,800 for MiniMax-M2. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M2 up to 131,072, Seed 1.6 up to 64,000, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
MiniMax-M2 accepts text; Seed 1.6 accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
MiniMax-M2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Seed 1.6 and Qwen3-VL Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 is the newest, released Oct 27, 2025. Seed 1.6 came out Oct 15, 2025; 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.
