Qwen3-VL Plus vs Qwen3 Max vs MiniMax-M2
Qwen3-VL Plus comes out ahead, 56 to 48 and 31 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3 Max
31/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
Qwen3-VL Plus is our pick
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against MiniMax-M2 (48) and Qwen3 Max (31). 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-M2MiniMax-M2 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL Plus and Qwen3 MaxQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Qwen3 Max 262,144 · MiniMax-M2 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Qwen3 Max: Text · MiniMax-M2: Text
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | Qwen3 Max | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 62 | 32 | 63 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 31/100 | 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) | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | MiniMax-M2MiniMax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | 142.4 | — |
| ECI rank | — | #91 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 72.6% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 19.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 73.3% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 48.8% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 (best) | $1.20 | $0.30 |
| Output | $1.60 | $6.00 | $1.20 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $2.40 | $0.525 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 204,800 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 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 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | qwen3-max | MiniMax-M2 |
| API providers | 6 | 16 (best) | 13 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Sep 23, 2025 | Oct 27, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | 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
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- MiniMax-M2$5.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen3 Max or MiniMax-M2?
Qwen3-VL Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against MiniMax-M2 (48) and Qwen3 Max (31). 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, Qwen3 Max or MiniMax-M2?
MiniMax-M2 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). Qwen3-VL Plus costs $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 $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2 versus $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1× as much) and $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (4.6× 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, Qwen3 Max has an ECI of 142.4 and MiniMax-M2 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-VL Plus, Qwen3 Max and MiniMax-M2 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 and Qwen3 Max have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, MiniMax-M2 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Qwen3 Max accepts text; MiniMax-M2 accepts text. Qwen3-VL Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
MiniMax-M2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3-VL Plus and Qwen3 Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 is the newest, released Oct 27, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-VL Plus Apr 2025, Qwen3 Max 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.
