MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3.5 35B A3B
At a Glance
| Compare |  MiniMax M2.5MiniMax |  Qwen3.5 35B A3BQwen |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $0.27Openrouter ↗ · Aug 28, 2026 | $0.14Deepinfra ↗ · Sep 23, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | $1.08Openrouter ↗ · Aug 28, 2026 | $1.00Deepinfra ↗ · Sep 23, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 197K | 262K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.5 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-13-d25aabda0010 · arena_rating · leader | 1,358.9097% of row best · rating · minimax-m2.5; 95% CI [1354.93997261, 1362.86079851]; votes 40843; rank 184 | 1,395.50100% of row best · rating · qwen3.5-35b-a3b; 95% CI [1391.20067764, 1399.79162231]; votes 29043; rank 148 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 0 benchmark winsNo overall winner | 1 benchmark winNo overall winner |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-M2.5 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | Qwen |
| Family | Minimax M2 5 | Qwen3 5 35b A3b |
| Model | MiniMax-M2.5 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
| Version | MiniMax-M2.5 | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-02-12 | Unknown |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 197K | 262K |
| Total parameters | 228.7B | 36B |
| Active parameters | Unknown | 3B |
| License | other | apache-2.0 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) | Deepinfra (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
MiniMax M2.5 Capabilities
Qwen3.5 35B A3B Capabilities
Related Comparisons
All text comparisons →| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs | Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs | Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs | MiniMax-M3MiniMax | family variantstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs | Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peerstext |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3.5 35B A3B FAQs
Is MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
MiniMax M2.5 is $0.27 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B is $0.14 per million tokens, so Qwen3.5 35B A3B is cheaper on this metric. MiniMax M2.5 is $1.08 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B is $1.00 per million tokens, so Qwen3.5 35B A3B is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
Qwen3.5 35B A3B has the larger sourced context window. MiniMax M2.5 supports 197K and Qwen3.5 35B A3B supports 262K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. MiniMax M2.5 is open weight; Qwen3.5 35B A3B is open weight.
Can MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B understand images?+
MiniMax M2.5 is not documented with image input; Qwen3.5 35B A3B is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax M2.5 is — and Qwen3.5 35B A3B is —.
Do MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax M2.5: tool calling. Qwen3.5 35B A3B: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
MiniMax M2.5 has 2 sourced provider routes; Qwen3.5 35B A3B has 4, so Qwen3.5 35B A3B has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.