Qwen3-VL Plus vs Seed 1.6 Vision vs MiniMax-M2
Seed 1.6 Vision comes out ahead, 63 to 56 and 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3-VL Plus
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.60
- Context262K
- Our pick
ByteDance SeedSeed 1.6 Vision
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.119 / $1.19
- Context256K
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
Seed 1.6 Vision is our pick
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (56) and MiniMax-M2 (48). 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 priceSeed 1.6 VisionSeed 1.6 Vision $0.386 · MiniMax-M2 $0.525 · Qwen3-VL Plus $0.55 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-VL PlusQwen3-VL Plus 262,144 · Seed 1.6 Vision 256,000 · MiniMax-M2 204,800 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3-VL Plus and Seed 1.6 VisionQwen3-VL Plus: Text, Images · Seed 1.6 Vision: Text, Images · MiniMax-M2: Text
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M2Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3-VL Plus | Seed 1.6 Vision | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 62 | 69 | 63 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 60 | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 36 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 56/100 | 63/100 | 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) | Seed 1.6 VisionByteDance Seed | MiniMax-M2MiniMax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.119 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $1.60 | $1.19 (best) | $1.20 |
| Cached input | — | $0.024 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.55 | $0.386 (best) | $0.525 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $0.178 / $2.37 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Volcengine Ark API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 256,000 tokens | 204,800 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 32,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-vl-plus | doubao-seed-1-6-vision-250815 | MiniMax-M2 |
| API providers | 6 | 2 | 13 (best) |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Aug 15, 2025 | Oct 27, 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
- Seed 1.6 Vision$3.56
- MiniMax-M2$5.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3-VL Plus, Seed 1.6 Vision or MiniMax-M2?
Seed 1.6 Vision is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against Qwen3-VL Plus (56) and MiniMax-M2 (48). 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-VL Plus, Seed 1.6 Vision or MiniMax-M2?
Seed 1.6 Vision is cheaper at $0.119 input / $1.19 output per million tokens (official Volcengine Ark API price). MiniMax-M2 costs $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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.386 per million tokens for Seed 1.6 Vision versus $0.525 for MiniMax-M2 (1.4× as much) and $0.55 for Qwen3-VL Plus (1.4× 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, Seed 1.6 Vision 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 Plus, Seed 1.6 Vision 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 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 256,000 for Seed 1.6 Vision and 204,800 for MiniMax-M2. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-VL Plus up to 32,768, Seed 1.6 Vision up to 32,000, MiniMax-M2 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3-VL Plus accepts text and images; Seed 1.6 Vision accepts text and images; 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 Seed 1.6 Vision is proprietary.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2 is the newest, released Oct 27, 2025. Qwen3-VL Plus came out Sep 23, 2025; Seed 1.6 Vision came out Aug 15, 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 Oct 4, 2026.
