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MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Try both on us. Starter credit covers your first requests, then one key routes MiniMax M3 and Qwen3.5 397B A17B. Switch by changing the model name.

Compare routesProviders, price, context, and policy posture in one view.

Use auto when uptime mattersKeep a primary model and let fallback handle provider failures.

Same API shapeUse the OpenAI client and set the model you want.

Practical read

Monthly evidence

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 has the lower published input-plus-output rate, more Credits provider routes and the larger context window. There is not enough recent probe data to compare speed.

$1.25545/1MMiniMax: MiniMax M3 cheapest route

$3.63975/1MQwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B cheapest route

not enough dataMiniMax: MiniMax M3 fastest measured p50 TTFT

not enough dataQwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B fastest measured p50 TTFT

The price comparison adds each route's rate for one million input tokens and one million output tokens; your cost depends on your input/output mix. Prices and live route measurements can change. Use the monthly reports when you need a stable evidence window, then run a small task-specific eval before choosing a production default.

MiniMax: MiniMax M3Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Model idminimax/minimax-m3qwen/qwen3.5-397b-a17b

Publisher MiniMax Alibaba Cloud Model Studio

AI IQ IQ 115#55 —

Context1,048,576 tokens262,144 tokens

Credits provider routes1511

Cheapest route$1.25545/1M$3.63975/1M

Cached input$0.05275/1M to $0.2532/1M$0.047475/1M to $0.58025/1M

Privacy posturehas ZDR routehas Confidential route (E2EE + ZDR)

Fastest measured p50 TTFTnot enough datanot enough data

Highest measured throughputnot enough datanot enough data

Recent route uptime rangenot enough datanot enough data

Modes chat chat

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 routes

Overview15 Credits routes
PricingInput, cached input, and output rates
BenchmarksTrustedRouter and external sources
ProvidersAll serving providers

Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B routes

Overview11 Credits routes
PricingInput, cached input, and output rates
ProvidersAll serving providers

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Production choice

Pick a default model. Keep fallback enabled.

TrustedRouter is useful when you know the model you want, but still need provider rollover, budget limits, usage records, and a prompt path you can verify.

OpenAI clientPython

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api-azure.trustedrouter.com/v1",
    api_key="sk-tr-v1-..."
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="minimax/minimax-m3",
    messages=messages,
)

Questions

Which should I use, MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B?

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 has the lower published input-plus-output rate, more Credits provider routes and the larger context window. There is not enough recent probe data to compare speed.

Is MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B cheaper?

The current cheapest TrustedRouter route is $1.25545/1M for MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and $3.63975/1M for Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B. The comparison uses current catalog prices and updates as provider pricing changes.

Is MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B faster?

Current measured p50 time to first token is not enough data for MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and not enough data for Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B. These are routed probe measurements, not vendor-advertised speeds, and update as new samples arrive.

Can I test MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and Qwen: Qwen3.5 397B A17B with the same API?

Yes. Use the same OpenAI-compatible TrustedRouter base URL and API key, then change only the model id between minimax/minimax-m3 and qwen/qwen3.5-397b-a17b. This makes side-by-side evals possible without maintaining two provider integrations.