Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT vs MiniMax-M2
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct comes out ahead, 53 to 48 and 39 on our weighted score, though Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT is 34% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
53/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.55
- Context131K
AI Singapore
Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT
39/100- ECI—
- Price$0.351 / $0.555
- Context128K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is our pick
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against MiniMax-M2 (48) and Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT (39). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT wins on price. MiniMax-M2 wins on context window. 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 priceGemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-ITGemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT $0.402 · MiniMax-M2 $0.525 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct $0.613 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMiniMax-M2MiniMax-M2 204,800 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct 131,072 · Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructQwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: Text, Images · Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT: Text · MiniMax-M2: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 69 | 63 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 0 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 39/100 | 48/100 |
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 VL 235B A22B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-ITAI Singapore | MiniMax-M2MiniMax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.30 (best) | $0.351 | $0.30 (best) |
| Output | $1.55 | $0.555 (best) | $1.20 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.613 | $0.402 (best) | $0.525 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 12 providers | Median of 2 providers | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 204,800 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | — | MiniMax-M2 |
| API providers | 12 | 2 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 | Oct 27, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 31, 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct$6.10
- Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT$4.62
- MiniMax-M2$5.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT or MiniMax-M2?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against MiniMax-M2 (48) and Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT (39). It leads on inputs & features. Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT wins on price. MiniMax-M2 wins on context window. 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 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT or MiniMax-M2?
Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT is cheaper at $0.351 input / $0.555 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). MiniMax-M2 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price); Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct costs $0.30 input / $1.55 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.402 per million tokens for Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT versus $0.525 for MiniMax-M2 (1.3× as much) and $0.613 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct has not been scored yet, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT has not been scored yet and MiniMax-M2 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT and MiniMax-M2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax-M2 has the largest context window at 204,800 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct and 128,000 for Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct up to 32,768, Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT up to 128,000, MiniMax-M2 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct accepts text and images; Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT accepts text; MiniMax-M2 accepts text. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 is the newest, released Oct 27, 2025. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct came out Sep 23, 2025; Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Mar 31, 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.
Related comparisons
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs GPT-5.1 Codex miniOpenAI
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct vs Mistral Medium 3.1Mistral AI
- Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT vs Seed 1.6ByteDance Seed
- Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT vs GLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu)
- Gemma-SEA-LION-v4-27B-IT vs Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
- MiniMax-M2 vs Qwen3-VL PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
