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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 Max vs o3

o3 comes out ahead, 58 to 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 Max is 31% cheaper per token.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    o3

    Released Apr 16, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI146.9
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

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 inputso3Qwen3 Max: Text · o3: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 Maxo3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6874
Price25%3224
Inputs & features15%2580
Context window10%3732
Overall100%50/10058/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Qwen3 Max vs o3 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)o3OpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)142.4146.9 (best)
ECI rank#91 of 148#63 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions72.6%81.8% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics19.0%33.3% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics73.3%84.4% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—62.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions48.8%49.4% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$1.20 (best)$2.00
Output$6.00 (best)$8.00
Cached input—$0.50
Blended (3:1)$2.40 (best)$3.50
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)200,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens100,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3-maxo3
API providers1618 (best)
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Apr 16, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025May 2024
03 — Cost

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$24.00
  • o3$36.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Max or o3?

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, Qwen3 Max or o3?

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: Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, o3 up to 100,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Max accepts text; o3 accepts text, images and PDFs. o3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3 Max and o3 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: Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, o3 May 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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