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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3-VL Plus

Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 31 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Max

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    31/100
    • ECI142.4
    • Price$1.20 / $6.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Max
  2. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-VL Plus

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $1.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-VL Plus

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3 Max 262,144 · Qwen3-VL Plus 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3 Max: Text · Qwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 MaxQwen3-VL Plus
Price50%3262
Inputs & features30%2560
Context window20%3737
Overall100%31/10056/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 Max vs Qwen3-VL Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)142.4—
ECI rank#91 of 148—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions72.6%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics19.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics73.3%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions48.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.20$0.20 (best)
Output$6.00$1.60 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$2.40$0.55 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3-maxqwen3-vl-plus
API providers16 (best)6
ReleasedSep 23, 2025Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 2025
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
  • Qwen3-VL Plus$5.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 Max or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen3 Max (31). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 or Qwen3-VL Plus?

Qwen3-VL Plus is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.55 per million tokens for Qwen3-VL Plus versus $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (4.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4 and Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max and Qwen3-VL Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Max and Qwen3-VL Plus share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 Max accepts text; Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3 Max and Qwen3-VL Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 Max is the newest, released Sep 23, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, Qwen3-VL 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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