MiniMax-M3 vs GLM-5 vs Qwen3.7 Plus
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.7 Plus 70, MiniMax-M3 69, GLM-5 55). The right pick depends on what you value most.
MiniMaxMiniMax-M3
69/100- ECI147.0
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context1.05M
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5
55/100- ECI145.8
- Price$1.00 / $3.20
- Context205K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.7 Plus
70/100- ECI147.4
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3.7 Plus 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100, GLM-5 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.7 Plus for raw capability, MiniMax-M3 on price and MiniMax-M3 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityQwen3.7 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.7 Plus 147.4 · MiniMax-M3 147.0 · GLM-5 145.8
- Lowest priceMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 $0.525 · Qwen3.7 Plus $0.70 · GLM-5 $1.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 1,048,576 · Qwen3.7 Plus 1,000,000 · GLM-5 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsMiniMax-M3 and Qwen3.7 PlusMiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video · GLM-5: Text · Qwen3.7 Plus: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M3 and GLM-5Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | MiniMax-M3 | GLM-5 | Qwen3.7 Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 73 | 75 |
| Price | 25% | 63 | 41 | 57 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 35 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 32 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 69/100 | 55/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | MiniMax-M3MiniMax | GLM-5Z.ai (Zhipu) | Qwen3.7 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 147.0 | 145.8 | 147.4 (best) |
| ECI rank | #62 of 148 | #74 of 148 | #61 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 90.9% (best) | 87.8% | 87.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 34.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 71.1% | 80.0% | 93.3% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 72.1% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $1.00 | $0.40 |
| Output | $1.20 (best) | $3.20 | $1.60 |
| Cached input | $0.06 | $0.20 | $0.04 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.525 (best) | $1.55 | $0.70 |
| Long-context rate | Over 512K: $0.60 / $2.40 | Same rate | Over 256K: $1.20 / $4.80 |
| Price source | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Z.AI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 204,800 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 512,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 64,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | MiniMax-M3 | glm-5 | qwen3.7-plus |
| API providers | 42 (best) | 27 | 25 |
| Released | Jun 1, 2026 | Feb 12, 2026 | Jun 2, 2026 |
| 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-M3$5.40
- GLM-5$16.40
- Qwen3.7 Plus$7.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: MiniMax-M3, GLM-5 or Qwen3.7 Plus?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Qwen3.7 Plus 70/100, MiniMax-M3 69/100, GLM-5 55/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.7 Plus for raw capability, MiniMax-M3 on price and MiniMax-M3 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M3, GLM-5 or Qwen3.7 Plus?
MiniMax-M3 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). Qwen3.7 Plus costs $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); GLM-5 costs $1.00 input / $3.20 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M3 versus $0.70 for Qwen3.7 Plus (1.3× as much) and $1.55 for GLM-5 (3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Qwen3.7 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.7 Plus 147.4 (#61 of 148), MiniMax-M3 147.0 (#62 of 148) and GLM-5 145.8 (#74 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (145.7–148.9 vs 142.7–149.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — MiniMax-M3 90.9%, Qwen3.7 Plus 87.9%, GLM-5 87.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.7 Plus 93.3%, GLM-5 80.0%, MiniMax-M3 71.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M3 and Qwen3.7 Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.7 Plus 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?
MiniMax-M3 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.7 Plus and 204,800 for GLM-5. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M3 up to 512,000, GLM-5 up to 131,072, Qwen3.7 Plus up to 64,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
MiniMax-M3 accepts text, images and video; GLM-5 accepts text; Qwen3.7 Plus accepts text, images and video. MiniMax-M3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
MiniMax-M3 and GLM-5 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.7 Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.7 Plus is the newest, released Jun 2, 2026. MiniMax-M3 came out Jun 1, 2026; GLM-5 came out Feb 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.7 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.
