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Alibaba · Flagships Analysis

Qwen3 Max

Intelligence, Performance & Price Analysis

Canonical slug: qwen3-max · Canonical model registry at build time

Intelligence

24 score

Speed

65.4 output tokens/sec

Latency

2.50s TTFT

Input Price

$1.20 / 1M tokens

Output Price

$6.00 / 1M tokens

Executive Assessment

Routing Verdict & Tradeoffs

Ethen Routing Verdict

Strong general-purpose model

Qwen3 Max scores 24 (estimated) on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among other non-reasoning models in a similar price tier (median: 17). Qwen3 Max generates output at 65.4 tokens per second (based on Alibaba's API), which is above average compared to other non-reasoning models in a similar price tier (median: 61.7 t/s). Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 per 1M input tokens (better than average, median: $1.88) and $6.00 per 1M output tokens (better than average, median: $7.75), based on Alibaba's API.

Suitable for most production tasks, but high-volume or repetitive work should still be compared against cheaper routes.

Task Fit Assessment

WorkloadRatingNotes
Complex reasoning & agentic workflowsoptimalIntelligence score 24 supports capable reasoning, but very hard tasks may benefit from higher-tier models.
High-volume chat & customer-facingoptimalOutput speed 65.4 tokens/sec is adequate for chat.
Latency-sensitive applicationsviableTTFT 2.50s — latency may be noticeable in interactive use.
Cost-sensitive pipelinesviableOutput pricing at $6.00 is premium. Route high-volume simple tasks to cheaper alternatives.

Cost Pressure Analysis

High

Pricing is premium — input $1.20, output $6.00. This model is expensive for high-volume or output-heavy workloads.

Cheaper substitutes: Lower-cost models for repetitive or high-volume work, Cache-backed reuse for repeated prompts

Technical Specifications

Architecture and Limits

SpecificationValueValidation Authority
Model typeProprietaryinferred
ReasoningNofaq
Input modalitiesQwen3 Max supports text input.faq
Output modalitiesQwen3 Max supports text output.faq
Context window260k tokensfaq
Open weights / sourceNo, Qwen3 Max is proprietary. The model weights are not publicly available.faq
ParametersQwen3 Max is a proprietary model and Alibaba has not disclosed the model size or parameter count.faq
API availabilityYes, Qwen3 Max is available via API through 2 providers.faq

Evidence charts

Profile visualizations

Charts are the same canonical evidence cards previously published for this slug, contained inside the D18D page grammar.

AA-Omniscience Index

AA-Omniscience Index (higher is better) measures knowledge reliability and hallucination. It rewards correct answers, penalizes hallucinations, and has no penalty for refusing to answer. Scores range from -100 to 100, where 0 means as many correct as incorrect answers, and negative scores mean more incorrect than correct. · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

-50050Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 4040AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…Gemini 3.5 Flash: 2323GGemini 3.5 FlashGPT-5.5 (xhigh): 2020AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Grok 4.3 (high): 1818xGrok 4.3 (high)Kimi K2.6: 6.46.4KKimi K2.6Muse Spark: 4.14.1?Muse SparkGLM-5.2 (max): 44?GLM-5.2 (max)MiniMax-M3: 1.41.4?MiniMax-M3Nemotron 3 Ultra: -0.8-0.8NNemotron 3 UltraClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning): -1.2-1.2AClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-rea…Qwen3 Max: -43.1-43.1QQwen3 Max

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index by Open Weights / Proprietary

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.1 incorporates 9 evaluations: GDPval-AA v2, 𝜏³-Banking, Terminal-Bench v2.1, SciCode, Humanity's Last Exam, GPQA Diamond, CritPt, AA-Omniscience, AA-LCR · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0204060Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 6060AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 5555AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)GLM-5.2 (max): 5151?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 5050GGemini 3.5 FlashMiniMax-M3: 4444?MiniMax-M3DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 4444DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Kimi K2.6: 4444KKimi K2.6Muse Spark: 4343?Muse SparkClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning): 4242AClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-rea…Nemotron 3 Ultra: 3838NNemotron 3 UltraQwen3 Max: 2424QQwen3 Max

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.1 incorporates 9 evaluations: GDPval-AA v2, 𝜏³-Banking, Terminal-Bench v2.1, SciCode, Humanity's Last Exam, GPQA Diamond, CritPt, AA-Omniscience, AA-LCR · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0204060Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 6060AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 5555AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)GLM-5.2 (max): 5151?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 5050GGemini 3.5 FlashMiniMax-M3: 4444?MiniMax-M3DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 4444DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Kimi K2.6: 4444KKimi K2.6Muse Spark: 4343?Muse SparkClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning): 4242AClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-rea…Nemotron 3 Ultra: 3838NNemotron 3 UltraQwen3 Max: 2424QQwen3 Max

Intelligence

Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0204060Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 6060AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 5555AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)GLM-5.2 (max): 5151?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 5050GGemini 3.5 FlashMiniMax-M3: 4444?MiniMax-M3DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 4444DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Kimi K2.6: 4444KKimi K2.6Muse Spark: 4343?Muse SparkNemotron 3 Ultra: 3838NNemotron 3 UltraGrok 4.3 (high): 3838xGrok 4.3 (high)Qwen3 Max: 2424QQwen3 Max

Output Speed

Output tokens per second · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

088175263350gpt-oss-120b (high): 314314AIgpt-oss-120b (high)Nemotron 3 Ultra: 250250NNemotron 3 UltraGLM-5.2 (max): 218218?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 192192GGemini 3.5 FlashGrok 4.3 (high): 164164xGrok 4.3 (high)Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 134134?Nova 2.0 Pro PreviewGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 133133xGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)MiniMax-M3: 9999?MiniMax-M3GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 8888AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Kimi K2.6: 7676KKimi K2.6Qwen3 Max: 6565QQwen3 Max

Speed

Output tokens per second · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

088175263350gpt-oss-120b (high): 314314AIgpt-oss-120b (high)Nemotron 3 Ultra: 250250NNemotron 3 UltraGLM-5.2 (max): 218218?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 192192GGemini 3.5 FlashGrok 4.3 (high): 164164xGrok 4.3 (high)MiniMax-M3: 9999?MiniMax-M3GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 8888AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Kimi K2.6: 7676KKimi K2.6DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 7272DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 7171AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…Qwen3 Max: 6565QQwen3 Max

End-to-End Response Time

Seconds to output 500 tokens, including reasoning model 'thinking' time · Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0s2.5s5s7.5s10sQwen3.6 27B: 8.3s8.3sQQwen3.6 27BQwen3 Max: 7.6s7.6sQQwen3 MaxClaude Fable 5 (with fallback): 7.1s7.1sAClaude Fable 5 (with fal…DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 7s7sDDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)GPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 6.6s6.6sAIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Kimi K2.6: 6.6s6.6sKKimi K2.6GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 5.7s5.7sAIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)MiniMax-M3: 5s5s?MiniMax-M3Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 3.8s3.8sxGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 3.7s3.7s?Nova 2.0 Pro Preview

Latency: Time To First Answer Token

Seconds to first answer token received · Accounts for reasoning model 'thinking' time · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0s25s50s75s100sDeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 61s61sDDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Kimi K2.6: 58s58sKKimi K2.6MiniMax-M3: 20s20s?MiniMax-M3GLM-5.2 (max): 9.2s9.2s?GLM-5.2 (max)Nemotron 3 Ultra: 9.1s9.1sNNemotron 3 Ultragpt-oss-120b (high): 6.4s6.4sAIgpt-oss-120b (high)Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 0s0sxGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)GPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 0s0sAIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 0s0s?Nova 2.0 Pro PreviewQwen3 Max: 0s0sQQwen3 Max

Context Window

Context window: tokens limit · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0250k500k750k1MGemini 3.5 Flash: 1M1MGGemini 3.5 FlashClaude Fable 5 (with fallback): 1M1MAClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GLM-5.2 (max): 1M1M?GLM-5.2 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 1M1MDDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Grok 4.3 (high): 1M1MxGrok 4.3 (high)MiniMax-M3: 1M1M?MiniMax-M3Claude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning): 1M1MAClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-rea…Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 1M1MxGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 922k922kAIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)GPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 922k922kAIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Qwen3 Max: 262k262kQQwen3 Max

Cost per Intelligence Index Task

Weighted average cost (USD) per Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index task, segmented by token type. Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

00.51Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 0.40.4AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 0.10.1AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 0.10.1GGemini 3.5 FlashGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 00AIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Qwen3.6 27B: 00QQwen3.6 27BNova 2.0 Pro Preview: 00?Nova 2.0 Pro PreviewGLM-5.2 (max): 00?GLM-5.2 (max)Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 00xGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Kimi K2.6: 00KKimi K2.6Nemotron 3 Ultra: 00NNemotron 3 Ultra

Cost per Task

Weighted average cost (USD) per Intelligence Index task · Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00$4.00$5.00Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): $2.75$2.75AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): $0.86$0.86AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Gemini 3.5 Flash: $0.59$0.59GGemini 3.5 FlashGLM-5.2 (max): $0.37$0.37?GLM-5.2 (max)Kimi K2.6: $0.35$0.35KKimi K2.6Nemotron 3 Ultra: $0.24$0.24NNemotron 3 UltraGrok 4.3 (high): $0.14$0.14xGrok 4.3 (high)MiniMax-M3: $0.12$0.12?MiniMax-M3gpt-oss-120b (high): $0.06$0.06AIgpt-oss-120b (high)DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): $0.04$0.04DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)

Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index

Cost (USD) to run all evaluations in the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0200400600Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 508508AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 132132AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 114114GGemini 3.5 FlashQwen3.6 27B: 8888QQwen3.6 27BGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 6666AIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 5353?Nova 2.0 Pro PreviewNemotron 3 Ultra: 3434NNemotron 3 UltraGLM-5.2 (max): 3333?GLM-5.2 (max)Kimi K2.6: 2525KKimi K2.6Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 2222xGrok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)

Pricing: Cache Hit, Input, and Output

Price (USD per M Tokens) · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0250k500k750k1MClaude Fable 5 (with fallback): 6161AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 3636AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)GPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning): 3636AIGPT-5.5 (Non-reasoning)Claude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning): 1212AClaude Sonnet 5 (Non-rea…Nova 2.0 Pro Preview: 1111?Nova 2.0 Pro PreviewGemini 3.5 Flash: 1111GGemini 3.5 FlashQwen3 Max: 7.27.2QQwen3 MaxGLM-5.2 (max): 6.16.1?GLM-5.2 (max)Kimi K2.6: 5.15.1KKimi K2.6Claude 3.5 Haiku: 4.94.9AClaude 3.5 Haikucache Hitinputoutput

Time per Intelligence Index Task

Weighted average decode time (minutes) per task; excludes TTFT and overhead time · Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis

Retrieved 2026-07-08

Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.

Retrieval date:
2026-07-08
Methodology:
Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.

0510Kimi K2.6: 8.28.2KKimi K2.6DeepSeek V4 Pro (max): 6.86.8DDeepSeek V4 Pro (max)Claude Fable 5 (with fallback): 4.84.8AClaude Fable 5 (with fal…MiniMax-M3: 3.93.9?MiniMax-M3GPT-5.5 (xhigh): 33AIGPT-5.5 (xhigh)Qwen3.6 27B: 33QQwen3.6 27BGLM-5.2 (max): 2.82.8?GLM-5.2 (max)Gemini 3.5 Flash: 2.22.2GGemini 3.5 Flashgpt-oss-120b (high): 1.91.9AIgpt-oss-120b (high)Grok 4.3 (high): 1.61.6xGrok 4.3 (high)

Methodology

Methodology & Provenance

This page is rendered from the normalized profile and page JSON for Qwen3 Max.

Benchmark values are preserved as normalized; only layout, disclosure ordering, and typography are adjusted for readability.

Frequently Asked Questions

Model FAQs & Technical Disclosures

Qwen3 Max was released on September 23, 2025.