Qwen3 Max
Where it stands
Quality in independent tests against price, next to 135 other models. Up means more capable, left means cheaper.
About this model
Qwen3 Max is an AI model from Alibaba Qwen, made available through the API on September 23, 2025. It can read up to 262,144 tokens in one request, roughly 492 pages of text, and write up to 65,536 tokens in a single answer.
Through the API it costs $0.78 per million input tokens and $3.90 per million output tokens. Its pricing sits in the middle of the market.
It supports extended reasoning: it can "think" step by step before answering, which helps on maths, code and complex questions. It can call tools and functions, so developers can connect it to search, databases or other software.
Quality scores
Rankings →- GPQA DiamondVery hard multiple-choice questions in biology, physics and chemistry, written by PhD experts. Random guessing scores 25%.72.6%#78 of 116
- AIME mathCompetition-level math problems in the style of the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. Share solved.73.3%#71 of 112
- FrontierMathOriginal, unpublished math problems written by professional mathematicians, from advanced to research level. Share solved.18.9%#63 of 73
- SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions. Measures how often the model gets facts right instead of making something up.48.7%#25 of 69
Where to use it
Companies that serve this model through an API: 1. Prices per million tokens, cheapest first.
Availability and prices come from OpenRouter’s public API and are refreshed daily. Uptime is the share of successful requests over the last 24 hours. Some providers run a compressed version of open models (fp8, int4), which is cheaper but can be slightly less accurate.
Use it in your code
Call Qwen3 Max through OpenRouter’s OpenAI-compatible API: create a key on openrouter.ai, then run one of these examples.
curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"model": "qwen/qwen3-max", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello! What can you do?"}]}'import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", api_key=os.environ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"])
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
model="qwen/qwen3-max",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello! What can you do?"}],
)
print(reply.choices[0].message.content)import OpenAI from "openai";
const client = new OpenAI({ baseURL: "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1", apiKey: process.env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY });
const reply = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: "qwen/qwen3-max",
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello! What can you do?" }],
});
console.log(reply.choices[0].message.content);The same code works with every model on this site: only the model ID changes. Many labs also offer their own API and SDK.
What it costs in practice
- 1,000 chat replies$1.56
- Summarise a 100-page document$0.043
- An app with 10,000 requests a day for a month$702
Similar-priced alternatives
| Model | Inputi | Outputi | Contexti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aion-2.0Aion Labs | $0.80 | $1.60 | 128K | Compare with ⇄ |
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle DeepMind | $0.75 | $3.75 | 1M | Compare with ⇄ |
GPT-5.4 MiniOpenAI | $0.75 | $4.50 | 400K | Compare with ⇄ |
KAT-Coder-Pro V2.5Kuaishou | $0.74 | $2.96 | 256K | Compare with ⇄ |
Hy4 previewTencent | $0.83 | $2.50 | 1M | Compare with ⇄ |
Relace Apply 3Relace | $0.85 | $1.25 | 256K | Compare with ⇄ |
News about Alibaba Qwen
See all →Frequently asked questions
- How much does Qwen3 Max cost?
- Qwen3 Max costs $0.78 per million input tokens and $3.90 per million output tokens through the API. For example, 1,000 chat replies of about 500 tokens in and 300 out cost around $1.56.
- What is the context window of Qwen3 Max?
- Qwen3 Max can read up to 262,144 tokens in one request, about 492 pages of text. It can write up to 65,536 tokens in a single answer.
- Is Qwen3 Max open source?
- No. Qwen3 Max is a closed model: its weights are not published, so you use it through Alibaba Qwen’s own apps and API, or through cloud providers.
- Who makes Qwen3 Max?
- Qwen3 Max is made by Alibaba Qwen. It became available through the API on September 23, 2025.
- How good is Qwen3 Max?
- Qwen3 Max has an overall index of 142.4 in Epoch AI’s independent tests, ranking #87 of 136 models we track.
- Can Qwen3 Max read images?
- No. Qwen3 Max only accepts text as input.
- What are the alternatives to Qwen3 Max?
- Models with a similar price from other companies include Aion-2.0, Gemini 3.8 Flash and GPT-5.4 Mini. You can compare them side by side on this page.