Compare / Qwen3.6-Plus vs MiniMax-M2.5
Qwen3.6-Plus vs MiniMax-M2.5
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 24 results on 5 sources that measured both models.
Of the 24 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs MiniMax, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5? The short answer
Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 22.8). Pick MiniMax-M2.5 if cost matters more: it costs 28% less per token.
- MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper: $0.52 against $0.73 per million tokens, 28% less.
- Qwen3.6-Plus scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 27.0 against 22.8.
- Qwen3.6-Plus is newer: released 31 Mar 2026, against 12 Feb 2026 for MiniMax-M2.5.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.6-Plus does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Plus | MiniMax-M2.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.33 in · $1.95 out | $0.30 in · $1.20 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.73 | $0.52 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $0.44 (Venice) |
| Intelligence Index | 27.0 | 22.8 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 204,800 tokens |
| Released | 31 Mar 2026 (newer) | 12 Feb 2026 |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | China | China |
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 the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | MiniMax-M2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 150 of 387 measured | 1,443 | 1,391 |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 84 · 141 of 163 measured | 1,438 | 1,386 |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 75 · 142 of 380 measured | 1,446 | 1,400 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 62 · 87 of 243 measured | 27.0 | 22.8 |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 58 · 80 of 231 measured | 88.2% | 84.8% |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 84 · 108 of 242 measured | 27.8% | 20.5% |
| OpenHands Index reported by OpenHands Index · 3 results | ||
| Average% resolved, higher is better 16 · 22 of 34 measured | 52.9%openhands | 45.2%openhands |
| Front end (SWE-Bench Multimodal)% resolved, higher is better 20 · 27 of 34 measured | 30.9%openhands | 25.0%openhands |
| Greenfield (Commit0)% resolved, higher is better 14 · 25 of 34 measured | 25.0%openhands | 12.5%openhands |
| UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results | ||
| Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 49 · 103 of 230 measured | 58.2thinking reasoning | 41.7 |
| Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 25 · 192 of 230 measured | 8.0%thinking reasoning | 41.0% |
| Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 96 · 35 of 230 measured | 0.35no reasoning | 0.38 |
| Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result | ||
| Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 25 · 57 of 58 measured | $5,115 | $-23.16 |
Show all 24 results (11 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | MiniMax-M2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 82 · 147 of 385 measured | 1,407 | 1,357 |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 68 · 130 of 338 measured | 1,476 | 1,425 |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 74 · 147 of 387 measured | 1,435 | 1,381 |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 146 of 386 measured | 1,423 | 1,369 |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 29 · 43 of 195 measured | 75.2% | 71.6% |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 54 · 92 of 233 measured | 78.3% | 73.3% |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 23 · 49 of 190 measured | 43.9% | 34.8% |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 7 · 20 of 193 measured | 97.7% | 95.3% |
| OpenHands Index reported by OpenHands Index · 3 results | ||
| Information gathering (GAIA)% resolved, higher is better 11 · 24 of 34 measured | 72.1%openhands | 47.9%openhands |
| Issue resolution (SWE-Bench)% resolved, higher is better 17 · 23 of 34 measured | 74.2%openhands | 72.6%openhands |
| Testing (SWT-Bench)% resolved, higher is better 21 · 18 of 34 measured | 62.1%openhands | 68.1%openhands |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Plus better than MiniMax-M2.5?
Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 27.0 against 22.8). Pick MiniMax-M2.5 if cost matters more: it costs 28% less per token.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper: $0.52 against $0.73 per million tokens, 28% less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 63 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 135 for MiniMax-M2.5.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 67 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 84 for MiniMax-M2.5.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 54 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 114 for MiniMax-M2.5.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
Qwen3.6-Plus ranks 80 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 102 for MiniMax-M2.5.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Plus or MiniMax-M2.5?
Qwen3.6-Plus: 1,000,000 tokens, against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5.
Run Qwen3.6-Plus and MiniMax-M2.5 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.