Alibaba has launched a newer model, Qwen3.6 Max Preview, we suggest considering this model instead.
For more information, see Comparison of Qwen3.6 Max Preview to other models and API provider benchmarks for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
Qwen3 Max Thinking Intelligence, Performance & Price Analysis
Model summary
IntelligenceUpdated
Speed
Price
Cache Hit Price
Verbosity
Qwen3 Max Thinking is above average in intelligence and reasonably priced when comparing to other models of similar price. The model supports text input, outputs text, and has a 256k tokens context window.
Qwen3 Max Thinking scores 32 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among comparable models (averaging 28).
Pricing for Qwen3 Max Thinking is $1.20 per 1M input tokens (moderately priced, average: $1.50) and $6.00 per 1M output tokens (moderately priced, average: $8.40).
| Reasoning | Yes This page shows the reasoning version of this model. A non-reasoning variant may also exist. |
|---|---|
| Input modality | Supports: text |
| Output modality | Supports: text |
| Context window | 256k ~384 A4 pages of size 12 Arial font |
Metrics are compared against models of the same class:
- Non-reasoning models → compared only with other non-reasoning models
- Reasoning models → compared across both reasoning and non-reasoning
- Open weights models → compared only with other open weights models of the same size class:
- Tiny: ≤4B parameters
- Small: 4B–40B parameters
- Medium: 40B–150B parameters
- Large: >150B parameters
- Proprietary models → compared across proprietary and open weights models of the same price range, using a blended 3:1 input/output price ratio:
- <$0.15 per 1M tokens
- $0.15–$1 per 1M tokens
- >$1 per 1M tokens
Highlights
Speed
IntelligenceUpdated
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index by Open Weights / Proprietary
Intelligence Evaluations
Agentic real-world work tasks, (Elo-500)/2000
Agentic tool use
Agentic coding & terminal use
Coding
Reasoning & knowledge
Scientific reasoning
Physics reasoning
Knowledge
1 - hallucination rate
Long context reasoning
Agentic knowledge work, Elo
Instruction following
Long-horizon agentic tasks
Kubernetes incident root-cause analysis
Visual reasoning
Intelligence Index Comparisons
Intelligence vs. Cost per Intelligence Index Task
Price and Cost
Cost per Intelligence Index Task
Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Pricing: Cache Hit, Input, and Output
Context Window
Context Window
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Qwen3 Max Thinking
Qwen3 Max Thinking was released on January 26, 2026.
Qwen3 Max Thinking was created by Alibaba.
Qwen3 Max Thinking scores 32 (estimated) on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among other reasoning models in a similar price tier (median: 28).
Qwen3 Max Thinking costs $1.20 per 1M input tokens (better than average, median: $1.50) and $6.00 per 1M output tokens (better than average, median: $8.40), based on Alibaba's API.
Qwen3 Max Thinking costs $1.20 per 1M input tokens and $6.00 per 1M output tokens (based on Alibaba's API). For a blended rate (7:2:1 cache hit/input/output ratio), this is $0.92 per 1M tokens. Pricing may vary by provider. Compare provider pricing
Yes, Qwen3 Max Thinking is a reasoning model. It uses extended thinking or chain-of-thought reasoning to work through complex problems before providing an answer.
Qwen3 Max Thinking supports text input.
Qwen3 Max Thinking supports text output.
No, Qwen3 Max Thinking does not support image input. It can only process text.
No, Qwen3 Max Thinking is not multimodal. It only supports text input.
Qwen3 Max Thinking has a context window of 260k tokens. This determines how much text and conversation history the model can process in a single request.
No, Qwen3 Max Thinking is proprietary. The model weights are not publicly available.
Qwen3 Max Thinking is a proprietary model and Alibaba has not disclosed the model size or parameter count.
Qwen3 Max Thinking achieves a score of 32 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. This composite benchmark evaluates models across reasoning, knowledge, mathematics, and coding.
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