OpenAI o3 vs Qwen 3 Max

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

OpenAI o3

OpenAI

Next generation reasoning model. Improved coding and math over o1.

Input$10.00/M
Output$40.00/M
Context200K tokens
Best ForAdvanced coding, complex problem-solving
Benchmark85/100

Qwen 3 Max

Qwen

Flagship Qwen 3 model. Top-tier reasoning and coding, competitive with Claude Opus and GPT-4.1.

Input$5.00/M
Output$20.00/M
Context256K tokens
Best ForComplex coding, advanced reasoning, bilingual enterprise applications

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

ScenarioOpenAI o3Qwen 3 MaxSavings
Small Script (1K lines) $1.55 $0.78 Qwen 3 Max saves $0.78 (50%)
Medium Feature (10K lines) $11.50 $5.75 Qwen 3 Max saves $5.75 (50%)
Large Project (50K lines) $57.50 $28.75 Qwen 3 Max saves $28.75 (50%)
Code Review (5K lines) $2.75 $1.38 Qwen 3 Max saves $1.38 (50%)

Verdict

Qwen 3 Max wins on both price and performance — $5.00/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.

For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.

Compare with Other Models