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Head-to-head comparison

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Max Thinking

o4 Mini (OpenAI) and Qwen3 Max Thinking (Qwen) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Qwen3 Max Thinking holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#56 vs #57); Qwen3 Max Thinking is cheaper per output token ($3.90/1M vs $4.40/1M); and Qwen3 Max Thinking offers the longer context window (262K vs 200K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose o4 Mini if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which o4 Mini leads Qwen3 Max Thinking for this pair.

Choose Qwen3 Max Thinking if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #56 against #57 (44.5 vs 43.5 points).
  • API cost matters — $3.90/1M output tokens against $4.40/1M.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.78/1M against $1.10/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 200K.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 32.5 against 26.1.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 Max Thinking was listed 9 February 2026, o4 Mini 16 April 2025.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Max Thinking: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of o4 Mini and Qwen3 Max Thinking
Fieldo4 MiniOpenAIQwen3 Max ThinkingQwen
ModelCap Index position#57#56
Index score43.544.5
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.10$0.78
Output price / 1M tokens$4.40$3.90
Context window200K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens100K66K
API providers listed11
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesImage, Text, FileText
First listed16 April 20259 February 2026
PublisherOpenAIQwen

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Max Thinking

Public benchmark boards where o4 Mini or Qwen3 Max Thinking has a published result
Boardo4 MiniQwen3 Max ThinkingLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14331426–1440—Only one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation6.1%High—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis26.1intelligence-index32.5intelligence-indexQwen3 Max Thinking

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Max Thinking: common questions

Is o4 Mini better than Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #56 against #57. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is o4 Mini cheaper than Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking is cheaper on output tokens: $3.90/1M against $4.40/1M. Input tokens are $1.10/1M for o4 Mini and $0.78/1M for Qwen3 Max Thinking. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, o4 Mini or Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 200K.

Which is better for coding, o4 Mini or Qwen3 Max Thinking?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are o4 Mini and Qwen3 Max Thinking open-weight models?

o4 Mini: API only. Qwen3 Max Thinking: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run o4 Mini and Qwen3 Max Thinking?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for o4 Mini and 1 for Qwen3 Max Thinking, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this o4 Mini vs Qwen3 Max Thinking comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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