Compare / Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs o3 Mini
Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs o3 Mini
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 12 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Qwen3.6 Max Preview or o3 Mini? The short answer
- o3 Mini is cheaper: $1.93 against $2.31 per million tokens, 17% less.
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 28.4 against 12.5.
- On our business benchmarks, Qwen3.6 Max Preview ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
At a glance
| Qwen3.6 Max Preview | o3 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $1.03 in · $6.16 out | $1.10 in · $4.40 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $2.31 | $1.93 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | – |
| Intelligence Index | 28.4 | 12.5 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | 78 of 161 | not measured |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | 56 of 195 | 129 of 195 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 37 of 187 | 140 of 187 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | 45 of 153 | 140 of 153 |
Every shared result
| Benchmark | Metric | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | o3 Mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Business, management and financeArena rating | 1,450 | 1,328 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Creative writingArena rating | 1,436 | 1,301 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Expert promptsArena rating | 1,499 | 1,366 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Instruction followingArena rating | 1,449 | 1,344 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,460 | 1,348 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Writing, literature and languageArena rating | 1,446 | 1,325 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score | 28.4 | 12.5 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | GPQA Diamond% of questions | 88.8% | 74.8% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Humanity's Last Exam% of questions | 30.8% | 7.9% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks | 43.9% | 6.8% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Τ²-bench telecom% of tasks | 95.9% | 28.7% |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI)reported | Correct answers% of questions | 52.0% | 15.3% |
Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6 Max Preview better than o3 Mini?
It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, Qwen3.6 Max Preview ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or o3 Mini?
o3 Mini costs $1.93 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $2.31 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
Run Qwen3.6 Max Preview and o3 Mini on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.