MiniMax M3 vs Qwen3.8 27B
Market Position
LiveBench Quality Versus Estimated Output Cost
This current-market view appears only when both compared models are reviewed current models with publisher-reported LiveBench token accounting and current sourced USD output rates.
Model Markets Rankings
Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency
| Ranking | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3.8-27B |
|---|---|---|
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | #4 of 36$0.017 per LiveBench case | #16 of 36$0.086 per LiveBench case |
Ranks come from the current complete eligible cohorts. Green highlights appear only when both models are ranked in the same metric. Missing required inputs remain unranked, and the three dimensions are not collapsed into an overall winner.
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3.8-27B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · statistical tie | 1,435.20100% of row best · rating · minimax-m3; 95% CI [1430.86827835, 1439.53977389]; votes 44544; rank 77 | 1,437.35100% of row best · rating · qwen3.8-27b; 95% CI [1429.71618499, 1444.98971204]; votes 6626; rank 69 |
| LMArena Vision Arenavision-2026-08-27-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,255.4298% of row best · rating · minimax-m3; 95% CI [1247.93588333, 1262.90862002]; votes 13390; rank 44 | 1,279.32100% of row best · rating · qwen3.8-27b; 95% CI [1267.46655532, 1291.16933290]; votes 2954; rank 28 |
| LiveBench2026-06-25 · overall · leader | 70.2690% of row best · percent · minimax-m3 · 15,530 output tokens / case | 78.02100% of row best · percent · qwen3.8-27b · 28,740 output tokens / case |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above · 1 tie | 0 benchmark wins | 2 benchmark winsOverall lead |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Technical Differences
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3.8-27B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | Qwen |
| Family | Minimax M3 | Qwen3 8 27b |
| Model | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3.8-27B |
| Version | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3.8-27B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-06-01 | Unknown |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 262K |
| Total parameters | 427B | 27.8B |
| Active parameters | 23B | Unknown |
| License | other | apache-2.0 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Deepinfra (Standard), Fireworks Ai (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) | Deepinfra (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
15 comparable fields · 8 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
MiniMax M3 Capabilities
Qwen3.8 27B Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax M3 vs Qwen3.8 27B FAQs
Is MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax M3 and Qwen3.8 27B, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
MiniMax M3 is $0.28 and Qwen3.8 27B is $0.40 per million tokens, so MiniMax M3 is cheaper on this metric. MiniMax M3 is $1.10 and Qwen3.8 27B is $3.00 per million tokens, so MiniMax M3 is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
MiniMax M3 has the larger sourced context window. MiniMax M3 supports 1,049K and Qwen3.8 27B supports 262K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
Qwen3.8 27B leads the current overall benchmark count. The result uses 3 protocol-matched benchmarks from 2 publishers; it is not a universal quality score.
Can MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. MiniMax M3 is open weight; Qwen3.8 27B is open weight.
Can MiniMax M3 and Qwen3.8 27B understand images?+
MiniMax M3 is documented with image input; Qwen3.8 27B is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax M3 is — and Qwen3.8 27B is 131K.
Do MiniMax M3 and Qwen3.8 27B support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax M3: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Qwen3.8 27B: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
MiniMax M3 has 5 sourced provider routes; Qwen3.8 27B has 3, so MiniMax M3 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax M3 or Qwen3.8 27B?+
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.