Qwen3-VL Plus vs MiniMax-M2 Her vs Grok Code Fast 1
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 58 to 48 and 43 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
58/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2 Her
43/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context66K
xAIGrok Code Fast 1
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.50
- Context256K
Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and MiniMax-M2 Her (43). It leads on 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 priceMiniMax-M2 Her and Grok Code Fast 1MiniMax-M2 Her $0.525 · Grok Code Fast 1 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Grok Code Fast 1 256,000 · MiniMax-M2 Her 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · MiniMax-M2 Her: Text · Grok Code Fast 1: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | MiniMax-M2 Her | Grok Code Fast 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 35 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 12 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 43/100 | 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 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | MiniMax-M2 HerMiniMax | Grok Code Fast 1xAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $0.30 | $0.20 (best) |
| Output | $1.60 | $1.20 (best) | $1.50 |
| Cached input | $0.04 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $0.525 (best) | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 32K: $0.30 / $2.40 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 3 providers | Median of 5 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens | 256,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 2,048 tokens | 10,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | — | — |
| API providers | 6 | 3 | 7 (best) |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Jan 23, 2026 | Sep 2, 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-VL Plus$5.20
- MiniMax-M2 Her$5.40
- Grok Code Fast 1$5.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, MiniMax-M2 Her or Grok Code Fast 1?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Grok Code Fast 1 (48) and MiniMax-M2 Her (43). It leads on 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-VL Plus, MiniMax-M2 Her or Grok Code Fast 1?
MiniMax-M2 Her is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). Grok Code Fast 1 costs $0.20 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); Qwen3-VL Plus costs $0.20 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2 Her versus $0.525 for Grok Code Fast 1 (1× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3-VL Plus has not been scored yet, MiniMax-M2 Her has not been scored yet and Grok Code Fast 1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL Plus, MiniMax-M2 Her and Grok Code Fast 1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3-VL Plus has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Grok Code Fast 1 and 65,536 for MiniMax-M2 Her. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, MiniMax-M2 Her up to 2,048, Grok Code Fast 1 up to 10,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; MiniMax-M2 Her accepts text; Grok Code Fast 1 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3-VL Plus, MiniMax-M2 Her and Grok Code Fast 1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 Her is the newest, released Jan 23, 2026. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; Grok Code Fast 1 came out Sep 2, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: 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 Nov 2, 2026.
