GPT-5.1 Turbo vs Qwen3-Max Max: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.1 Turbo and Qwen3-Max Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.1 Turbo has the stronger average benchmark score; Qwen3-Max Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-5.1 Turbo
GPT-5.1 Turbo is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.19 per million input tokens and $89.83 per million output tokens, and averages 86.1 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.19 / 1M
- Output
- $89.83 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 86.1
- Open weights
- No
Qwen3-Max Max
Qwen3-Max Max is a frontier model from Alibaba Cloud. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $18.53 per million input tokens and $74.05 per million output tokens, and averages 85.9 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $18.53 / 1M
- Output
- $74.05 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 85.9
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.1 Turbo | Qwen3-Max Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $19.19 | $18.53 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $89.83 | $74.05 | B |
| Context window | 2,000,000 | 400,000 | A |
| Max output | 128,000 | 65,536 | A |
| Average score | 86.1 | 85.9 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1482.0 | 1467.7 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.1 Turbo wins 6, Qwen3-Max Max wins 5, and 1 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.1 Turbo | Qwen3-Max Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 85.2 | 85.2 | 0.0 | Tie |
| GPQA Diamond | 81.3 | 83.8 | 2.5 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.7 | 74.3 | 0.4 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
| HumanEval | 91.5 | 90.2 | 1.3 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
| MATH-500 | 91.4 | 92.8 | 1.4 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| AIME 2025 | 84.7 | 82.7 | 2.0 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
| LiveCodeBench | 84.6 | 82.8 | 1.8 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
| IFEval | 93.4 | 93.7 | 0.3 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| TruthfulQA | 89.2 | 89.3 | 0.1 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| HellaSwag | 91.3 | 91.4 | 0.1 | Qwen3-Max Max |
| MMMU | 79.7 | 78.9 | 0.8 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
| Arena Elo | 1482.0 | 1467.7 | 14.3 | GPT-5.1 Turbo |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.1 Turbo costs about $36.85 per million tokens and Qwen3-Max Max costs about $32.41. Qwen3-Max Max is roughly 12% cheaper than GPT-5.1 Turbo. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
GPT-5.1 Turbo has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens, compared with 400,000 for Qwen3-Max Max. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-5.1 Turbo wins 6, Qwen3-Max Max wins 5, and 1 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.1 Turbo leads Qwen3-Max Max by 0.2 points (86.1 versus 85.9).
The price picture favours Qwen3-Max Max. The context picture favours GPT-5.1 Turbo. 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-5.1 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and Qwen3-Max Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GPT-5.1 Turbo if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- You need the larger 2,000,000-token context window.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
Choose Qwen3-Max Max if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.1 Turbo better than Qwen3-Max Max?
On the index average, GPT-5.1 Turbo leads Qwen3-Max Max by 0.2 points (86.1 versus 85.9). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.1 Turbo wins 6 benchmarks, Qwen3-Max Max wins 5.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.1 Turbo or Qwen3-Max Max?
Qwen3-Max Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $32.41 per million tokens, versus $36.85 for GPT-5.1 Turbo.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5.1 Turbo has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens. Qwen3-Max Max has 400,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-5.1 Turbo is proprietary; Qwen3-Max Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.1 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and Qwen3-Max Max for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.