Qwen3 Max Preview vs GPT-5 Chat
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 Max Preview 33, GPT-5 Chat 31). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max Preview
33/100- ECI—
- Price$0.975 / $4.14
- Context262K
OpenAIGPT-5 Chat
31/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context400K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3 Max Preview 33/100, GPT-5 Chat 31/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Max Preview on price and GPT-5 Chat 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 priceQwen3 Max PreviewQwen3 Max Preview $1.77 · GPT-5 Chat $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5 ChatGPT-5 Chat 400,000 · Qwen3 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-5 ChatQwen3 Max Preview: Text · GPT-5 Chat: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 Max Preview | GPT-5 Chat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 37 | 23 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 33/100 | 31/100 |
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 | Qwen3 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | GPT-5 ChatOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.975 (best) | $1.25 |
| Output | $4.14 (best) | $10.00 |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.77 (best) | $3.44 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 400,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — |
| API providers | 2 | 5 (best) |
| Released | Sep 5, 2025 | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Sep 30, 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 Max Preview$18.03
- GPT-5 Chat$32.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 Max Preview or GPT-5 Chat?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3 Max Preview 33/100, GPT-5 Chat 31/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Max Preview on price and GPT-5 Chat 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, Qwen3 Max Preview or GPT-5 Chat?
Qwen3 Max Preview is cheaper at $0.975 input / $4.14 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.77 per million tokens for Qwen3 Max Preview versus $3.44 for GPT-5 Chat (1.9× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Max Preview has not been scored yet and GPT-5 Chat has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max Preview and GPT-5 Chat yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-5 Chat does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5 Chat has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Max Preview up to 32,768, GPT-5 Chat up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 Max Preview accepts text; GPT-5 Chat accepts text and images. GPT-5 Chat handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3 Max Preview and GPT-5 Chat are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 Max Preview is the newest, released Sep 5, 2025. GPT-5 Chat came out Aug 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max Preview Apr 2025, GPT-5 Chat Sep 30, 2024.
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 Nov 2, 2026.
