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Head-to-head comparison

Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

Qwen3 Max Thinking (Qwen) and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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 VL 235B A22B Thinking holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#55 vs #56); Qwen3 Max Thinking is cheaper per output token ($3.90/1M vs $4.00/1M); Qwen3 Max Thinking offers the longer context window (262K vs 131K tokens); and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3 Max Thinking if…

  • API cost matters — $3.90/1M output tokens against $4.00/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 262K tokens against 131K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Qwen3 Max Thinking was listed 9 February 2026, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 23 September 2025.

Choose Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #55 against #56 (46.3 vs 44.5 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.40/1M against $0.78/1M.
  • you want to self-host: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ships open weights while Qwen3 Max Thinking is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.

Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
FieldQwen3 Max ThinkingQwenQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen
ModelCap Index position#56#55
Index score44.546.3
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.78$0.40
Output price / 1M tokens$3.90$4.00
Context window262K tokens131K tokens
Max output tokens66K33K
API providers listed12
Weight accessAPI onlyOpen weights
Input modalitiesTextText, Image
First listed9 February 202623 September 2025
PublisherQwenQwen

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

Public benchmark boards where Qwen3 Max Thinking or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has a published result
BoardQwen3 Max ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—14551441–1469Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis32.5intelligence-index—Only one result

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.

Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: common questions

Is Qwen3 Max Thinking better than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #55 against #56. 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 Qwen3 Max Thinking cheaper than Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking is cheaper on output tokens: $3.90/1M against $4.00/1M. Input tokens are $0.78/1M for Qwen3 Max Thinking and $0.40/1M for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3 Max Thinking or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 Max Thinking has the larger context window: 262K tokens against 131K.

Which is better for coding, Qwen3 Max Thinking or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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 Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking open-weight models?

Qwen3 Max Thinking: API only. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Open weights. 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 Qwen3 Max Thinking and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Qwen3 Max Thinking and 2 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Qwen3 Max Thinking vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B 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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