Compare / Qwen3-Max vs DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp

Qwen3-Max vs DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 17 results on 4 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3-Max Released 24 Sep 2025 · $0.78 in · $3.90 out
DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp Released 29 Sep 2025 · $0.27 in · $0.41 out
Qwen3-Max wins 26 too close to callDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp wins 9

Of the 17 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 DeepSeek, every model from both labs.

Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp? The short answer

They score about the same, so pick DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp: it costs 5.1 times less per token.

  • DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp is cheaper: $0.30 against $1.56 per million tokens, 5.1 times less.
  • DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 16.6 against 15.6.
  • DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp is newer: released 29 Sep 2025, against 24 Sep 2025 for Qwen3-Max.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge and writing.

Head to head

15.6
Intelligence Index
16.6
$1.56
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$0.30
262,144
Context window, tokens
163,840

Every fact side by side

Qwen3-MaxDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Price per million tokens$0.78 in · $3.90 out$0.27 in · $0.41 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$1.56$0.30
Cheapest host, blended––
Intelligence Index15.616.6
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window262,144 tokens163,840 tokens
Released24 Sep 202529 Sep 2025 (newer)
WeightsClosedOpen
Developer based inChinaChina

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.

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 154 of 164 72 of 164
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 121 of 198 106 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 99 of 188 71 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 50 of 152 40 of 152

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.

MeasureQwen3-MaxDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 108 · 105 of 387 measured 1,423 1,425thinking reasoning
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 110 · 104 of 380 measured 1,419 1,422
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 105 · 79 of 385 measured 1,393 1,410
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 123 · 119 of 243 measured 15.6 16.6thinking reasoning
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 132 · 110 of 231 measured 76.4% 79.7%thinking reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 140 · 126 of 242 measured 11.9% 14.9%thinking reasoning
UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results
Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 115 · 64 of 230 measured 38.6 54.0thinking reasoning
Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 134 · 147 of 230 measured 23.0% 25.0%thinking reasoning
Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 155 · 113 of 230 measured 0.33 0.35no reasoning
Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result
Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 52 · 44 of 58 measured $71.57 $1,034
Show all 17 results (7 more)
MeasureQwen3-MaxDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 137 · 99 of 338 measured 1,417 1,449thinking reasoning
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 106 · 98 of 387 measured 1,413 1,416thinking reasoning
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 101 · 90 of 386 measured 1,405 1,411
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results
IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 118 · 93 of 195 measured 44.2% 54.2%thinking reasoning
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 154 · 96 of 233 measured 50.0% 72.3%thinking reasoning
Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 91 · 65 of 190 measured 20.5% 31.1%thinking reasoning
τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 79 · 126 of 193 measured 74.3% 33.9%no reasoning

Quick answers

Is Qwen3-Max better than DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

They score about the same, so pick DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp: it costs 5.1 times less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp is cheaper: $0.30 against $1.56 per million tokens, 5.1 times less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp ranks 72 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 154 for Qwen3-Max.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp ranks 106 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 121 for Qwen3-Max.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp ranks 71 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 99 for Qwen3-Max.

Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp ranks 40 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 50 for Qwen3-Max.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?

Qwen3-Max: 262,144 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp.

Run Qwen3-Max and DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp on your own prompt

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