MiniMax-M3 vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-09.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
MiniMax-M3 scores 19.5 points higher (29.6 vs 10.1) but costs 1.1× as much to run the benchmark ($538 vs $476; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick MiniMax-M3 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3 Coder Next.
| Metric | MiniMax-M3 | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 29.6 | 10.1 | −65.9% Qwen3 Coder Next is 65.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $537.98 | $476.03 | −11.5% Qwen3 Coder Next is 11.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.39s | 5.52s | −68.3% Qwen3 Coder Next is 68.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs MiniMax-M3: 65.9% less intelligence, 11.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 68.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
MiniMax-M3Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/minimax-m3/qwen3-coder-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/minimax-m3/qwen3-coder-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill