Qwen3.5 Plus vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B vs MiniMax-M2.5
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68, Qwen3.5 Plus 66, MiniMax-M2.5 61). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.5 Plus
66/100- ECI146.8
- Price$0.40 / $2.40
- Context1M
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
68/100- ECI143.9
- Price$0.248 / $1.49
- Context262K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.5
61/100- ECI146.7
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Qwen3.5 Plus 66/100, MiniMax-M2.5 61/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 Plus for raw capability and MiniMax-M2.5 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityQwen3.5 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 · MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9
- Lowest priceMiniMax-M2.5MiniMax-M2.5 $0.525 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · Qwen3.5 Plus $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 PlusQwen3.5 Plus 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 · MiniMax-M2.5 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.5 Plus: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · MiniMax-M2.5: Text
- Self-hostingQwen3.6 35B-A3B and MiniMax-M2.5Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 Plus | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | MiniMax-M2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 70 | 74 |
| Price | 25% | 52 | 62 | 63 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 90 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 37 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 66/100 | 68/100 | 61/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3.5 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.8 (best) | 143.9 | 146.7 |
| ECI rank | #65 of 148 (best) | #83 of 148 | #66 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 84.9% | 84.9% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 20.4% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 86.7% | 86.7% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 25.4% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 | $0.248 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $2.40 | $1.49 | $1.20 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.03 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.90 | $0.557 | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 204,800 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3.5-plus | qwen3.6-35b-a3b | MiniMax-M2.5 |
| API providers | 10 | 34 (best) | 21 |
| Released | Feb 16, 2026 | Apr 17, 2026 | Feb 12, 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.
- Qwen3.5 Plus$8.80
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
- MiniMax-M2.5$5.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 Plus, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B or MiniMax-M2.5?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Qwen3.5 Plus 66/100, MiniMax-M2.5 61/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.5 Plus for raw capability and MiniMax-M2.5 on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 Plus, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B or MiniMax-M2.5?
MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). Qwen3.6 35B-A3B costs $0.248 input / $1.49 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen3.5 Plus costs $0.40 input / $2.40 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 $0.557 for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B (1.1× as much) and $0.90 for Qwen3.5 Plus (1.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Qwen3.5 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 (#65 of 148), MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 (#66 of 148) and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (144.6–148.1 vs 142.3–147.9), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 Plus, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B and MiniMax-M2.5 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 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?
Qwen3.5 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B and 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 Plus up to 65,536, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536, MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 Plus accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video; MiniMax-M2.5 accepts text. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B and MiniMax-M2.5 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.5 Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. Qwen3.5 Plus came out Feb 16, 2026; MiniMax-M2.5 came out Feb 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.5 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.
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