AllocateMiniMax M3 vs Qwen 3.5
On provider list prices, MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per million input tokens against $0.60 for Qwen 3.5: 2.0x apart. Output is $1.20 against $3.60 (3.0x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.
Qwen 3.5Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.
What the numbers say
Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $780 a month on MiniMax M3 and $1,980 on Qwen 3.5 at list: a gap of $1,200, or 2.5x.
MiniMax M3 reads 512K tokens per request against 256K for Qwen 3.5, 2.0x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.
Choose MiniMax M3 for
- The lower list price ($0.30 in / $1.20 out per M tokens)
- The longer context window (512K vs 256K tokens)
Choose Qwen 3.5 for
- Multilingual support agents
- Translation-adjacent workflows
- Fine-tuning under Apache 2.0
Common questions
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or Qwen 3.5?
MiniMax M3, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens in and out against $0.60/$3.60 for Qwen 3.5. Billed on Allocate: $0.32/$1.28 against $0.64/$3.85, list plus 7%.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax M3: 524,288 tokens (512K) against 262,144 (256K) for Qwen 3.5.
Can I fine-tune MiniMax M3 or Qwen 3.5?
Qwen 3.5 publishes open weights (Apache 2.0) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. MiniMax M3 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers on your workload
Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.