MiniMax M2.1 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Qwen3.5 397B A17B leads MiniMax M2.1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 21.4 to 20.9, and MiniMax M2.1 costs 1.9x less per output token ($1.20 vs $2.34 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 15 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace MiniMax M2.1 Replace Qwen3.5 397B A17B

MiniMax M2.1MiniMax

Coding: No data
Overall: No data
Output $/M: $1.20

Qwen3.5 397B A17BQwen

Coding: No data
Overall: 57.1
Output $/M: $2.34

vs boards won of 15 shared

MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3.5 397B A17B: 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 1.9x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.34 per million) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Model AMiniMax M2.1MiniMaxNot benchmarked1 independent benchmark$0.59 per solved task Model BQwen3.5 397B A17BQwenNot benchmarked1 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved task

151951

Shared results: 15
MiniMax M2.1 only: 19
Qwen3.5 397B A17B only: 51
Like-for-like categories: 6 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
Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Qwen3.5 397B A17B leads, 21.4 against 20.9.
Same board, both measured
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 1190.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Qwen3.5 397B A17B takes 262K tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009, Qwen3.5 397B A17B $0.0016 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, Qwen3.5 397B A17B not benchmarked.
Widest category: Agentic work, 10.2 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
Widest single gap: Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run): MiniMax M2.1 28.8% against Qwen3.5 397B A17B 40.9%, 12.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: MiniMax M2.1 $1.20 against Qwen3.5 397B A17B $2.34 per million output tokens, 1.9x apart.
Context window: MiniMax M2.1 takes 205K tokens, Qwen3.5 397B A17B 262K.

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.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Coding	1	1
Intelligence	0	1
Agentic work	0	1
Reasoning	0	2
Web design	5	2
General	0	2
All shared boards	6	9

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index11

Coding benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
LMArena WebDev	Not measured	1400	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B 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
SciCode	Not measured	44.8%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)	28.8%	40.9%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Terminal-Bench	36.6%	Not measured	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
ALE-Bench	623.8	621.9	MiniMax M2.1
LMArena Text: coding	Not measured	1464	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: software and IT	Not measured	1463	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena WebDev: React	Not measured	1388	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena WebDev: HTML	Not measured	1410	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Intelligence benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	20.9	21.4	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Epoch Capabilities Index	Not measured	146.8	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01

Agentic work benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
τ²-Bench Telecom	85.4%	95.6%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
APEX-Agents	Not measured	24.9%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02

Reasoning benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
GPQA Diamond	78.5%	Not measured	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	83.0%	89.3%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	23.2%	29.0%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	Not measured	86.4%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Mystery game puzzles	Not measured	18.0%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	Not measured	1448	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: expert	Not measured	1462	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	Not measured	1450	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: diagrams	Not measured	1277	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: homework	Not measured	1292	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here

MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10 boards, none shared

Math benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	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	88.9%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	Not measured	31.2%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: math	Not measured	1453	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work	Not measured	1454	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
MathArena	Not measured	19.2%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here

KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared

Knowledge benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	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
LMArena Text: science	Not measured	1457	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	Not measured	1455	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: legal and government	Not measured	1441	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: business and finance	Not measured	1435	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here

Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index52

Web design benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
Design Arena: websites	1201	1190	MiniMax M2.1
Design Arena: UI components	1220	1161	MiniMax M2.1
Design Arena: game dev	1134	1140	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: data viz	1206	1175	MiniMax M2.1
Design Arena: 3D	1164	1160	MiniMax M2.1
Design Arena: all code categories	1190	1179	MiniMax M2.1
Design Arena: SVG	1131	1139	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02

General benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	Leader
MedScribe (Vals AI)	80.8%	Not measured	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
IFBench	69.9%	78.8%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	67.7%	77.3%	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
DTBench	Not measured	87.5%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMCA	Not measured	37.9%	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text	Not measured	1437	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: instruction following	Not measured	1424	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: creative writing	Not measured	1402	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision	Not measured	1262	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: English	Not measured	1443	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: non-English	Not measured	1430	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Chinese	Not measured	1498	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: German	Not measured	1445	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Japanese	Not measured	1429	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Korean	Not measured	1384	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: French	Not measured	1462	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Spanish	Not measured	1441	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Russian	Not measured	1430	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: Polish	Not measured	1447	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn	Not measured	1446	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: longer queries	Not measured	1441	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: writing and language	Not measured	1415	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	Not measured	1399	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: English	Not measured	1268	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese	Not measured	1314	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: reading text	Not measured	1271	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: humor	Not measured	1262	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: captioning	Not measured	1230	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing things	Not measured	1265	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing	Not measured	1260	Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here

Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared

Image generation benchmarks for MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Benchmark	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B	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$0.0009Fits in one request

Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.0016Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

MiniMax M2.1$0.019Fits in one request

Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.027Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

MiniMax M2.1$0.072Exceeds the context window

Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.101Fits in one request

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.

Specifications of MiniMax M2.1 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Specification	MiniMax M2.1	Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Maker	MiniMax	Qwen
Weights	Open weights	Open weights
Released	December 23, 2025	February 16, 2026
Context window	205K	262K
Input $/Mtok	$0.30	$0.39
Output $/Mtok	$1.20	$2.34
Coding index	Not benchmarked	Not benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it	1	1
Cost per solved task	$0.59	Not computable
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is MiniMax M2.1 better than Qwen3.5 397B A17B for coding?

Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M2.1 for output tokens 1.9x cheaper ($1.20 vs $2.34 per million) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or AA Intelligence Index, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3.5 397B A17B?

MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 397B A17B costs $0.39 and $2.34. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2.1 only.

Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3.5 397B A17B?

Qwen3.5 397B A17B, with 262K tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2.1 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B comparison based on?

15 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. MiniMax M2.1's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Qwen3.5 397B A17B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

MiniMax M2.1 or Qwen3.5 397B A17B: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Reasoning

Math

Knowledge

Web design

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

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