Skip to content
ModelCap

Head-to-head comparison

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max Thinking

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (Qwen) 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 #182); Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is 9.8× cheaper per output token ($0.40/1M vs $3.90/1M); and Qwen3 Max Thinking offers the longer context window (262K vs 33K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen2.5 72B Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $0.40/1M output tokens against $3.90/1M, about 9.8× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.36/1M against $0.78/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.

Choose Qwen3 Max Thinking if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #56 against #182 (44.5 vs 18.2 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 33K.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 32.5 against 9.4.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 Max Thinking was listed 9 February 2026, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 19 September 2024.

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max Thinking: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Max Thinking
FieldQwen2.5 72B InstructQwenQwen3 Max ThinkingQwen
ModelCap Index position#182#56
Index score18.244.5
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.36$0.78
Output price / 1M tokens$0.40$3.90
Context window33K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens16K66K
API providers listed21
Weight accessRestricted licenseAPI only
Input modalitiesTextText
First listed19 September 20249 February 2026
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 3 public benchmark observations across 3 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: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max Thinking

Public benchmark boards where Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 Max Thinking has a published result
BoardQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen3 Max ThinkingLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)13561348–1363—Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis9.4intelligence-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.

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen3 Max Thinking: common questions

Is Qwen2.5 72B Instruct better than Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #56 against #182. 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 Qwen2.5 72B Instruct cheaper than Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $0.40/1M against $3.90/1M. Input tokens are $0.36/1M for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 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, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen3 Max Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 33K.

Which is better for coding, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 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 Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Max Thinking open-weight models?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: Restricted license. 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 Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen3 Max Thinking?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 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 Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 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.

Explore further