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Model comparison

MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B

MiniMax against Qwen, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

MiniMax

MiniMax M2.5

Balanced · Open weights

vs

Qwen

Qwen3-235B-A22B

Balanced · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationMiniMax M2.5Qwen3-235B-A22B
ProviderMiniMaxQwen
TierBalancedBalanced
Context windowWinner: 205K128K
Max outputNot verifiedUnverified33K
Input / 1M tokensWinner: $0.30$0.70
Output / 1M tokensWinner: $1.20$2.80
WeightsOpenOpen
Parametersopen MoE235B total / 22B active (MoE)
Reasoning levelslow, high, maxlow, high, max
Modalitiestexttext
LicenseNot disclosedUnverifiedApache 2.0
API model idNot publishedUnverifiedqwen3-235b-a22b
ReleasedFebruary 12, 2026April 29, 2025
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)Winner: 22.89.5

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

  • 2026-09-26
    Artificial Analysis (Reasoning, AA-estimated)

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.

Pricing tiers

MiniMax M2.5: $0.30/$1.20 per MTok on MiniMax's pay-as-you-go API (cache read $0.03). MiniMax lists M2.5 as a legacy model. Open weights (community license).

Qwen3-235B-A22B: Model Studio International $0.70 input / $2.80 output per MTok (non-thinking); thinking-mode output $8.40. Open weights (Apache 2.0) for self-hosting; 32,768-token recommended output.

BalancedOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

MiniMax M2.5

MiniMax M2.5 is a legacy open-weight MiniMax MoE with a 204,800-token context.

Best for

  • Open-weight deployments
  • Multimodal

Watch out

Legacy: MiniMax's current models are M3 (1M context, multimodal) and M2.7 at the same $0.30/$1.20 price.

BalancedOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

Qwen3-235B-A22B

Qwen3-235B-A22B is Alibaba's widely deployed open-weight MoE — 235B/22B, strong price-performance.

Best for

  • Open-weight deployments
  • Self-hosting
  • Multilingual

Watch out

Needs multi-GPU for the 235B total; hosted rates vary.

When the cheaper one wins

MiniMax M2.5 is cheaper on output at $1.20 per million tokens against $2.80 for Qwen3-235B-A22B — about 2.3×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

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Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 4/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output.
  • 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? MiniMax M2.5 · Qwen3-235B-A22B

Common questions

MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3-235B-A22B

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3-235B-A22B cheaper for input?
MiniMax M2.5 is cheaper at $0.30 per million input tokens, against $0.70 for Qwen3-235B-A22B — roughly 2.3× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; MiniMax M2.5 has tiered pricing: $0.30/$1.20 per MTok on MiniMax's pay-as-you-go API (cache read $0.03). MiniMax lists M2.5 as a legacy model. Open weights (community license). Qwen3-235B-A22B has tiered pricing: Model Studio International $0.70 input / $2.80 output per MTok (non-thinking); thinking-mode output $8.40. Open weights (Apache 2.0) for self-hosting; 32,768-token recommended output.
Is MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3-235B-A22B cheaper for output?
MiniMax M2.5 is cheaper at $1.20 per million output tokens, against $2.80 for Qwen3-235B-A22B — roughly 2.3× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; MiniMax M2.5 has tiered pricing: $0.30/$1.20 per MTok on MiniMax's pay-as-you-go API (cache read $0.03). MiniMax lists M2.5 as a legacy model. Open weights (community license). Qwen3-235B-A22B has tiered pricing: Model Studio International $0.70 input / $2.80 output per MTok (non-thinking); thinking-mode output $8.40. Open weights (Apache 2.0) for self-hosting; 32,768-token recommended output.
Which has the larger context window, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
MiniMax M2.5 accepts 205K tokens against 128K for Qwen3-235B-A22B. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3-235B-A22B support the same reasoning levels?
Yes — both accept the same effort settings: "low", "high", "max". Higher effort costs more and takes longer, so start low and raise it only where output quality actually improves.
Should I use MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3-235B-A22B?
Both sit in the balanced tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. MiniMax M2.5 suits open-weight deployments; Qwen3-235B-A22B suits open-weight deployments.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.30 per 1M tokens versus $0.70 for Qwen3-235B-A22B — a 2.3x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: MiniMax M2.5 takes 205K against 128K for Qwen3-235B-A22B — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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