Qwen3 8B vs MiniMax-M2.7 vs DeepSeek V3 0324
MiniMax-M2.7 comes out ahead, 61 to 56 and 54 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 8B is 41% cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 8B
56/100- ECI136.2
- Price$0.18 / $0.70
- Context131K
- Our pick
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.7
61/100- ECI145.9
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
DeepSeekDeepSeek V3 0324
54/100- ECI135.9
- Price$0.24 / $0.90
- Context164K
MiniMax-M2.7 is our pick
MiniMax-M2.7 is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3 8B (56) and DeepSeek V3 0324 (54). It leads on capability and context window. Qwen3 8B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityMiniMax-M2.7Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.7 145.9 · Qwen3 8B 136.2 · DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9
- Lowest priceQwen3 8BQwen3 8B $0.31 · DeepSeek V3 0324 $0.405 · MiniMax-M2.7 $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMiniMax-M2.7MiniMax-M2.7 204,800 · DeepSeek V3 0324 163,840 · Qwen3 8B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 8B: Text · MiniMax-M2.7: Text · DeepSeek V3 0324: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 8B | MiniMax-M2.7 | DeepSeek V3 0324 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 61 | 73 | 60 |
| Price | 25% | 74 | 63 | 68 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 32 | 28 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 61/100 | 54/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 8BAlibaba (Qwen) | MiniMax-M2.7MiniMax | DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 136.2 | 145.9 (best) | 135.9 |
| ECI rank | #113 of 148 | #73 of 148 (best) | #114 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 56.8% | — | 67.6% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 56.1% (best) | — | 37.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.18 (best) | $0.30 | $0.24 |
| Output | $0.70 (best) | $1.20 | $0.90 |
| Cached input | — | $0.06 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.31 (best) | $0.525 | $0.405 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 204,800 tokens (best) | 163,840 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 131,072 tokens | 163,840 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-8b | MiniMax-M2.7 | — |
| API providers | 1 | 29 (best) | 5 |
| Released | Apr 28, 2025 | Mar 18, 2026 | Mar 24, 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.
- Qwen3 8B$3.20
- MiniMax-M2.7$5.40
- DeepSeek V3 0324$4.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 8B, MiniMax-M2.7 or DeepSeek V3 0324?
MiniMax-M2.7 is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against Qwen3 8B (56) and DeepSeek V3 0324 (54). It leads on capability and context window. Qwen3 8B wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 8B, MiniMax-M2.7 or DeepSeek V3 0324?
Qwen3 8B is cheaper at $0.18 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.24 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); MiniMax-M2.7 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.31 per million tokens for Qwen3 8B versus $0.405 for DeepSeek V3 0324 (1.3× as much) and $0.525 for MiniMax-M2.7 (1.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
MiniMax-M2.7 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.7 145.9 (#73 of 148), Qwen3 8B 136.2 (#113 of 148) and DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9 (#114 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (138.2–148.0 vs 129.7–138.1), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 8B, MiniMax-M2.7 and DeepSeek V3 0324 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M2.7 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-M2.7 has the largest context window at 204,800 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek V3 0324 and 131,072 for Qwen3 8B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 8B up to 8,192, MiniMax-M2.7 up to 131,072, DeepSeek V3 0324 up to 163,840 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 8B accepts text; MiniMax-M2.7 accepts text; DeepSeek V3 0324 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2.7 is the newest, released Mar 18, 2026. Qwen3 8B came out Apr 28, 2025; DeepSeek V3 0324 came out Mar 24, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 8B 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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