MiniMax M2.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
MiniMax M2.1 leads Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 20.9 to 12.7, and MiniMax M2.1 costs 2.9x less per output token ($1.20 vs $3.50 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 7 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick MiniMax M2.1 for output tokens 2.9x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.50 per million) and a larger context window (205K against 128K tokens).
- Shared results
- 7
- MiniMax M2.1 only
- 27
- Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 only
- 39
- Like-for-like categories
- 2 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 20.9 against 12.7.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a GPQA Diamond result, 78.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a AIME result, 77.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a MMLU Pro result, 87.0%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 1201 against 1052.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 takes 205K tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009, Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 $0.0022 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has the number, $0.59.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M2.1 not benchmarked, Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 24.8 points apart on average over 6 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: UI components: MiniMax M2.1 1220 against Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 942, 34.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M2.1 $1.20 against Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 $3.50 per million output tokens, 2.9x apart.
- Context window
- MiniMax M2.1 takes 205K tokens, Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 128K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | MiniMax M2.1 | Bars | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 6 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 7 | 0 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 22.1 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 81.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 74.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 81.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 28.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 36.6% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 41.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 623.8 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1424 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1431 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 20.9 | 12.7 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 1.3 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 85.4% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | -$11 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.2% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 80.1% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 9.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1416 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1463 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1432 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 77.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | 89.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 87.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| AA Math Index | 82.7 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 86.7% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1412 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1435 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 87.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 75.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 58.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 66.3% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 91.2% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 87.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 40.4% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1433 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1456 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1415 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1412 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1201 | 1052 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1220 | 942 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1134 | 956 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1207 | 950 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1166 | 998 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1190 | 1032 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1131 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index23 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 80.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| IFBench | 69.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 67.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 80.3% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 29.3% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | Not measured | 75.0% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | Not measured | 82.4% | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1415 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1386 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1384 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1429 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1397 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1481 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1408 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1386 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1375 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1389 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1400 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1390 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1406 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1399 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1388 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1370 | Only Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.1 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M2.1 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M2.1 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | MiniMax M2.1 | Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | December 23, 2025 | July 25, 2025 |
| Context window | 205K | 128K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.45 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.20 | $3.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.59 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M2.1 better than Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M2.1 for output tokens 2.9x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.50 per million) and a larger context window (205K against 128K tokens).
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?
MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 costs $0.45 and $3.50. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2.1 only.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507?
MiniMax M2.1, with 205K tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2.1 vs Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 comparison based on?
7 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. MiniMax M2.1's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.