o3 vs Qwen3 Max
o3 comes out ahead, 58 to 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Max is 31% cheaper per token.
o3 is our pick
o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- Capabilityo3Capabilities Index (ECI): o3 146.9 · Qwen3 Max 142.4
- Lowest priceQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max $2.40 · o3 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3 MaxQwen3 Max 262,144 · o3 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputso3o3: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 Max: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | o3 | Qwen3 Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 68 |
| Price | 25% | 24 | 32 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 50/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification |  o3OpenAI |  Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.9 (best) | 142.4 |
| ECI rank | #63 of 148 (best) | #91 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 81.8% (best) | 72.6% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 33.3% (best) | 19.0% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 84.4% (best) | 73.3% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 62.3% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 49.4% (best) | 48.8% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.20 (best) |
| Output | $8.00 | $6.00 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.50 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.50 | $2.40 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 100,000 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | o3 | qwen3-max |
| API providers | 18 (best) | 16 |
| Released | Apr 16, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | 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.
- o3$36.00
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: o3 or Qwen3 Max?
o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability and inputs & features. Qwen3 Max wins on price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, o3 or Qwen3 Max?
Qwen3 Max is cheaper at $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). o3 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.40 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max versus $3.50 for o3 (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
o3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o3 146.9 (#63 of 148) and Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (144.9–148.6 vs 140.0–144.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — o3 81.8%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — o3 33.3%, Qwen3 Max 19.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — o3 84.4%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%; SimpleQA Verified — o3 49.4%, Qwen3 Max 48.8%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o3 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?
Qwen3 Max has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 200,000 for o3. Maximum output per response: o3 up to 100,000, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
o3 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 Max accepts text. o3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. o3 and Qwen3 Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. o3 came out Apr 16, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: o3 May 2024, 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.
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