MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Qwen3.5-Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads Qwen3.5-Flash on coding, 59.1 to 41.1 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Qwen3.5-Flash costs 2.3x less per output token ($0.26 vs $0.60 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Qwen3.5-Flash: which to pick
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for coding: it scores 59.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 41.1 for Qwen3.5-Flash.
Pick Qwen3.5-Flash for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($0.26 vs $0.60 per million).
- Shared results
- 3
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash only
- 17
- Qwen3.5-Flash only
- 52
- Like-for-like categories
- 1 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
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash scores 59.1 against 41.1.
4 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash has a AA Intelligence Index result, 42.7.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Qwen3.5-Flash has a GPQA Diamond result, 82.8%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Qwen3.5-Flash has a AIME result, 92.5%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Qwen3.5-Flash has a MMLU Pro result, 84.1%.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash has a Vals Index result, 53.8%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3.5-Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.0004, Qwen3.5-Flash $0.0002 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Qwen3.5-Flash has the number, $0.40.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash 59.1 from 4 benchmarks, Qwen3.5-Flash 41.1 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 50.5 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena WebDev: React: MiniMax M3.1 Flash 1614 against Qwen3.5-Flash 1229, 61.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.60 against Qwen3.5-Flash $0.26 per million output tokens, 2.3x apart.
- Context window
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Qwen3.5-Flash 1M.
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 M3.1 Flash | Bars | Qwen3.5-Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 3 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 3 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index30
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 83.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1590 | 1244 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.3% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.4% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 25.3% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 73.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| SciCode | 53.4% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 265.9 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1412 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1416 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1614 | 1229 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1532 | 1291 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 42.7 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 143.5 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | 72.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench browser | 92.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | 34.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 32.1% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 7.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 82.8% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | 82.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 81.9% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 48.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 82.3% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 14.0% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1403 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1407 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1409 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 92.5% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 84.4% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 18.2% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1407 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1413 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 84.1% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.3% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.0% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 63.6% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.2% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.0% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 20.3% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1415 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1407 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1397 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1394 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench design | 74.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index24 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 53.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 71.4% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.5% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.6% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 79.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 82.9% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 29.1% | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1397 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1375 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1343 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1404 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1385 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1446 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1391 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1369 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1344 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1413 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1399 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1380 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1376 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1393 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1392 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1369 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1347 | Only Qwen3.5-Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash | 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
Qwen3.5-Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3.5-Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3.5-Flash 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 M3.1 Flash | Qwen3.5-Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | October 19, 2026 | February 25, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $0.065 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.26 |
| Coding index | 59.1 | 41.1 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.40 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M3.1 Flash better than Qwen3.5-Flash for coding?
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for coding: it scores 59.1 on the Vibe Coding Index against 41.1 for Qwen3.5-Flash. Pick Qwen3.5-Flash for output tokens 2.3x cheaper ($0.26 vs $0.60 per million).
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Qwen3.5-Flash?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5-Flash costs $0.065 and $0.26. Cost per solved task is known for Qwen3.5-Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Qwen3.5-Flash?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Qwen3.5-Flash comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. MiniMax M3.1 Flash's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.5-Flash's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.