GPT-4.1 Pro vs Qwen3-Max: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-4.1 Pro and Qwen3-Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-4.1 Pro has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-4.1 Pro is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-4.1 Pro
GPT-4.1 Pro is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $17.56 per million input tokens and $91.14 per million output tokens, and averages 85.2 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.56 / 1M
- Output
- $91.14 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 85.2
- Open weights
- No
Qwen3-Max
Qwen3-Max is a frontier model from Alibaba Cloud. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $17.37 per million input tokens and $94.30 per million output tokens, and averages 84.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.37 / 1M
- Output
- $94.30 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 84.4
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-4.1 Pro | Qwen3-Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $17.56 | $17.37 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $91.14 | $94.30 | A |
| Context window | 400,000 | 400,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 8,192 | 4,096 | A |
| Average score | 85.2 | 84.4 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1449.6 | 1449.2 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-4.1 Pro wins 8, Qwen3-Max wins 4, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Pro | Qwen3-Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 86.9 | 84.0 | 2.9 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| GPQA Diamond | 78.2 | 82.3 | 4.1 | Qwen3-Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 77.3 | 73.3 | 4.0 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| HumanEval | 91.9 | 88.5 | 3.4 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| MATH-500 | 88.8 | 89.7 | 0.9 | Qwen3-Max |
| AIME 2025 | 82.8 | 81.1 | 1.7 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| LiveCodeBench | 76.7 | 82.2 | 5.5 | Qwen3-Max |
| IFEval | 92.2 | 92.5 | 0.3 | Qwen3-Max |
| TruthfulQA | 87.7 | 83.4 | 4.3 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| HellaSwag | 93.7 | 92.9 | 0.8 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| MMMU | 81.5 | 78.7 | 2.8 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
| Arena Elo | 1449.6 | 1449.2 | 0.4 | GPT-4.1 Pro |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-4.1 Pro costs about $35.95 per million tokens and Qwen3-Max costs about $36.60. GPT-4.1 Pro is roughly 2% cheaper than Qwen3-Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 400,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-4.1 Pro wins 8, Qwen3-Max wins 4, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-4.1 Pro leads Qwen3-Max by 0.8 points (85.2 versus 84.4).
The price picture favours GPT-4.1 Pro. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with GPT-4.1 Pro for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose GPT-4.1 Pro if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 8,192-token output limit.
Choose Qwen3-Max if
- You prefer Alibaba Cloud's tooling or already use it.
FAQ
Is GPT-4.1 Pro better than Qwen3-Max?
On the index average, GPT-4.1 Pro leads Qwen3-Max by 0.8 points (85.2 versus 84.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-4.1 Pro wins 8 benchmarks, Qwen3-Max wins 4.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 Pro or Qwen3-Max?
GPT-4.1 Pro is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $35.95 per million tokens, versus $36.60 for Qwen3-Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 400,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-4.1 Pro is proprietary; Qwen3-Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-4.1 Pro for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.