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MiniMax M2 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Updated October 21, 2026. 42 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.

Replace MiniMax M2 Replace Qwen3.5 397B A17B
MiniMax M2MiniMax
Coding
45.3
Overall
18.6
Output $/M
$1.02
0
Qwen3.5 397B A17BQwen
Coding
28.6
Overall
21.4
Output $/M
$2.34
42
vs boards won of 42 shared

Decision reading

Pick MiniMax M2 for coding: it scores 45.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 28.6 for Qwen3.5 397B A17B.

Pick Qwen3.5 397B A17B when the context window is larger, 262K against 205K tokens, or when what matters is LMArena WebDev or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

Model AMiniMax M2MiniMax45.3/1002 independent benchmarks$0.702 per solved taskModel BQwen3.5 397B A17BQwen28.6/1001 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved task
Shared results
42
MiniMax M2 only
7
Qwen3.5 397B A17B only
23
Like-for-like categories
8 of 9

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.

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.

At a glance

Coding index
MiniMax M2 45.3 from 2 benchmarks, Qwen3.5 397B A17B 28.6 from 1 benchmark.
Widest category
General, 17.0 points apart on average over 17 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
LMArena Text: Polish: MiniMax M2 1312 against Qwen3.5 397B A17B 1447, 22.6 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
MiniMax M2 $1.02 against Qwen3.5 397B A17B $2.34 per million output tokens, 2.3x apart.
Context window
MiniMax M2 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
CategoryMiniMax M2BarsQwen3.5 397B A17BTies
Coding05
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning05
Math02
Knowledge04
Web design07
General017
All shared boards042
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index05
Coding benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
SWE-bench Verified61.0%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
LMArena WebDev12971400Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)82.6%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
SciCodeNot measured44.8%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)25.8%40.9%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Terminal-Bench30.0%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
ALE-BenchNot measured621.9Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: coding13711464Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: software and IT13731463Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena WebDev: ReactNot measured1388Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena WebDev: HTML13061410Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Neither model has a result on the other 27 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
AA Intelligence Index18.621.4Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Epoch Capabilities IndexNot measured146.8Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
τ²-Bench Telecom86.8%95.6%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
APEX-AgentsNot measured24.9%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Vending-Bench 2$161Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
Reasoning benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)77.7%89.3%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)13.7%29.0%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)Not measured86.4%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Mystery game puzzlesNot measured18.0%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13571448Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: expert13381462Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13761450Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1277Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1292Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
Math benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
AA Math Index78.3Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)78.3%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
OTIS Mock AIMENot measured88.9%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3Not measured31.2%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: math13511453Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: mathematical work13681454Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
Knowledge benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)82.0%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2 measured
LMArena Text: science13481457Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13671455Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: legal and government13491441Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: business and finance13361435Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index07
Web design benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
Design Arena: websites11441191Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: UI components11361163Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: game dev11191141Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: data viz11401175Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: 3D10981161Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: all code categories11351180Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Design Arena: SVG10981139Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index017
General benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
IFBench72.3%78.8%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)64.3%77.3%Qwen3.5 397B A17B
DTBenchNot measured87.5%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMCANot measured37.9%Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text13401437Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: instruction following13291424Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: creative writing12861402Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena VisionNot measured1262Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: English13641443Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: non-English13131430Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: Chinese13661498Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: German13571445Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: JapaneseNot measured1429Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: KoreanNot measured1384Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Text: French13361462Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: Spanish13261441Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: Russian13301430Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: Polish13121447Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: multi-turn13611446Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: longer queries13311441Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: writing and language12951415Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Text: entertainment and media12981399Qwen3.5 397B A17B
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1268Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1314Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1271Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1262Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: captioningNot measured1230Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing thingsNot measured1265Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1260Only Qwen3.5 397B A17B measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for MiniMax M2 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
BenchmarkMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17BLeader
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$0.0008Fits in one request
Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.0016Fits in one request

MiniMax M2 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

MiniMax M2$0.016Fits in one request
Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.027Fits in one request

MiniMax M2 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

MiniMax M2$0.061Exceeds the context window
Qwen3.5 397B A17B$0.101Fits in one request

MiniMax M2 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 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B
SpecificationMiniMax M2Qwen3.5 397B A17B
MakerMiniMaxQwen
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedOctober 23, 2025February 16, 2026
Context window205K262K
Input $/Mtok$0.255$0.39
Output $/Mtok$1.02$2.34
Coding index45.328.6
Independent measurements behind it21
Cost per solved task$0.702Not computable
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

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

Pick MiniMax M2 for coding: it scores 45.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 28.6 for Qwen3.5 397B A17B. Pick Qwen3.5 397B A17B when the context window is larger, 262K against 205K tokens, or when what matters is LMArena WebDev or Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.

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

MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 per million input tokens and $1.02 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 397B A17B costs $0.39 and $2.34. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2 only.

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

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

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

42 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. MiniMax M2's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.5 397B A17B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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