MiniMax M3 vs Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
| Characteristic | MiniMax M3 | Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Company | MiniMax | Alibaba |
| Release Date | June 1, 2026 | September 22, 2025 |
| Parameters | 428B | 4B |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 262K |
| Context (output) | 131K | 262K |
| Input Price / 1M | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Output Price / 1M | $1.20 | $0.60 |
| Average Score | 0.9 | 0.9 |
Verdict
MiniMax M3 leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Overall Performance
Both models show comparable average scores: MiniMax M3 — 0.9, Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct — 0.9.
API Cost
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is 2.1x cheaper: input $0.10/1M vs $0.30/1M tokens.
Context Window
MiniMax M3 supports a larger context: 1M vs 262K tokens.
Recency
MiniMax M3 is newer: released 6/1/2026 vs 9/22/2025.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — MiniMax M3 or Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct?
Direct comparison on the SWE-Bench benchmark is not available. We recommend reviewing other metrics on the comparison page.
Which model is cheaper — MiniMax M3 or Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct?
Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct is cheaper for input: $0.10 per 1M tokens vs $0.30.
Which has a larger context window — MiniMax M3 or Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct?
MiniMax M3 supports a larger context: 1,000,000 tokens vs 262,144.
The MiniMax M3 and Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the MiniMax M3 or Qwen3 VL 4B Instruct page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.