MiniMax-M1 is a large-scale, open-weight reasoning model designed for extended context and high-efficiency inference. It leverages a hybrid Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture paired with a custom "lightning attention" mechanism, allowing…
Model details →MiniMax: MiniMax M1 vs Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)
Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) wins on 2 of 6 axes — pricing and capability skew in its favour for most workloads.
Qwen Plus 0728, based on the Qwen3 foundation model, is a 1 million context hybrid reasoning model with a balanced performance, speed, and cost combination.
Model details →Side-by-side comparison
| Capability | MiniMax: MiniMax M1 | Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context window Maximum number of input tokens the model can attend to in a single request. | 1M | 1M | Tie |
| Input price (per 1M) Cost per million input tokens billed by the provider. | $0.40 | $0.26 | 🏆 Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) |
| Output price (per 1M) Cost per million output tokens billed by the provider. | $2.20 | $0.78 | 🏆 Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) |
| Tool / function calling First-class support for emitting structured tool calls. | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Vision input Accepts image inputs alongside text. | — | — | Tie |
| Reasoning mode Internal chain-of-thought / extended-thinking support. | Yes | Yes | Tie |
Frequently asked questions
Is MiniMax: MiniMax M1 better than Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)?
Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) wins on 2 of 6 axes — pricing and capability skew in its favour for most workloads.
What's the price difference between MiniMax: MiniMax M1 and Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)?
Input: $0.40 vs $0.26 per 1M tokens. Output: $2.20 vs $0.78 per 1M tokens.
What context windows do MiniMax: MiniMax M1 and Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) support?
MiniMax: MiniMax M1 supports up to 1M tokens. Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) supports up to 1M tokens.
Do both MiniMax: MiniMax M1 and Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) support tool calling?
MiniMax: MiniMax M1: yes. Qwen: Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): yes.