OpenAI o3 vs Qwen3-Max
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
OpenAI o3
68.9OpenAI · Apr 2025
OpenAI's dedicated 2025 reasoning model that pioneered thinking-with-images and agentic tool use within chain-of-thought.
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
Qwen3-Max wins 2 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for OpenAI o3. Qwen3-Max is about 1.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Qwen3-Max also takes 262K of context versus 200K for OpenAI o3.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–2
Specs & pricing
| OpenAI o3 | Qwen3-Max | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | 68.9 | 80.5 |
| Input price / 1M | $2 | $1.2 |
| Output price / 1M | $8 | $6 |
| Context window | 200K | 262K |
| Max output | 100K | 66K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | Jun 2025 |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $32.00 | $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, OpenAI o3 or Qwen3-Max?
- Qwen3-Max wins 2 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for OpenAI o3. Qwen3-Max is about 1.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Qwen3-Max also takes 262K of context versus 200K for OpenAI o3.
- Which is cheaper, OpenAI o3 or Qwen3-Max?
- OpenAI o3 costs $2/$8 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 $32.00 versus $21.00.
- Which model is better for coding, OpenAI o3 or Qwen3-Max?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — Qwen3-Max scores 69.6% versus 69.1% for OpenAI o3, making Qwen3-Max the stronger pick for coding agents.