Qwen3 Max Thinking alternatives
Match · Updated July 2026
The closest alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking is MiniMax M2.1 — comparable intelligence (31.4 vs 31.7); for a cheaper option, GPT-5.6 Luna runs $0.100/M vs $0.780/M; and the best open-weight substitute is Kimi K3.
Closest match
Cheaper alternatives
gpt-5.6-luna
$0.100/M input · 51.2 intel
gemini-3.5-flash:batch
$0.750/M input · 50.2 intel
gemini-3.6-flash:batch
$0.750/M input · 50.1 intel
minimax-m3
$0.300/M input · 44.4 intel
minimax-m3:batch
$0.150/M input · 44.4 intel
deepseek-v4-pro
$0.435/M input · 44.3 intel
Smarter alternatives
Open-source alternatives
kimi-k3
57.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
glm-5.2
51.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3
44.4 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3:batch
44.4 intel · open weights · 524K ctx
deepseek-v4-pro
44.3 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
kimi-k2.6
44.2 intel · open weights · 262K ctx
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking?
MiniMax M2.1 is the closest alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking, with an Intelligence Index of 31.4 (Qwen3 Max Thinking scores 31.7) at $0.300 per million input tokens.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking?
Yes — GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.100 per million input tokens versus $0.780 for Qwen3 Max Thinking, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.
Is there an open-source alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking?
Kimi K3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to Qwen3 Max Thinking — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 57.1 on intelligence.