GPT-5 mini vs Qwen3-Max
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
GPT-5 mini
OpenAI · Aug 2025
A fast, cheap distillation of GPT-5 for high-volume workloads — one fifth of the flagship's price with most of its everyday capability.
Qwen3-Max
80.5Alibaba (Qwen) · Sep 2025
Alibaba's trillion-parameter API flagship — frontier-adjacent quality with strong agentic tool use at mid-tier prices.
The verdict
GPT-5 mini wins 2 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for Qwen3-Max. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 mini works out roughly 3.5x cheaper per blended million tokens. GPT-5 mini also takes 400K of context versus 262K for Qwen3-Max.
Benchmark head-to-head 2–1
Specs & pricing
| GPT-5 mini | Qwen3-Max | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | 80.5 |
| Input price / 1M | $0.25 | $1.2 |
| Output price / 1M | $2 | $6 |
| Context window | 400K | 262K |
| Max output | 128K | 66K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | Jun 2025 |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $5.50 | $21.00 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, GPT-5 mini or Qwen3-Max?
- GPT-5 mini wins 2 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for Qwen3-Max. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 mini works out roughly 3.5x cheaper per blended million tokens. GPT-5 mini also takes 400K of context versus 262K for Qwen3-Max.
- Which is cheaper, GPT-5 mini or Qwen3-Max?
- GPT-5 mini costs $0.25/$2 per million input/output tokens, while Qwen3-Max costs $1.2/$6. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $5.50 versus $21.00.
- Which model is better for coding, GPT-5 mini or Qwen3-Max?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — GPT-5 mini scores ~71% versus 69.6% for Qwen3-Max, making GPT-5 mini the stronger pick for coding agents.