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  1. Home/
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  3. MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)
Updated Feb 2026

MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)

MiniMax M2.5 is cheaper than Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) at $0.3/M vs $0.4/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
MiniMax M2.5
Loading the build
Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

18 prompts
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    MiniMax M2.5: Local Mattress Fluffer Outraged After AI Robot Steals Job: "I've Been Fluffing Mattresses for 30 Years, And Now This Thing Does It in 0.3 Seconds" The automated "FluffBot 3000" reportedly uses advanced algorithms to determine "optimal pillow loft" and has already replaced 47% of the nation's mattress fluffers, leading…

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): BREAKING: AI REPLACES HUMAN AGLET APPLIERS AS "DEEPLACE" NEURAL NETS PREDICT PERFECT SHOELACE TIP SYNERGY Industry insiders stunned as "AgletOptima 3000" achieves 99.8% fewer frayed laces, rendering centuries of artisanal plastic-dipping obsolete LONDON — In a move described as "both inevitable and deeply embarrassing…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    MiniMax M2.5: Note: The following is a fictional, simulated interview. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, so this dialogue is a creative exercise and not a real conversation. Interviewer (I): Good morning. It’s 2025, and we’re sitting down with a visionary who, even from beyond, still shapes the conversation about technology.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): The Stage: Apple Park, Infinite Loop (Virtual Studio) Date: October 15, 2025 Setting: A minimalist white studio. A single oak table. Steve Jobs, 70 but radiating the same intense energy, sits opposite a nervous tech journalist. He wears his signature black turtleneck, fingers steepled.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    MiniMax M2.5: Pirate: “Avast, ye landlubbers! I’ve been hearin’ chatter ‘bout these ‘AI models.’ Be they like a treasure map that can predict where the gold’s hidden?” Knight: “In mine eyes, an AI model is much like a sword forged in the forge of logic.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): The Tavern of Temporal Anomalies (A creaky tavern. SIR GALAHAD (polished armor, earnest face) sips mead. CAPTAIN BLACKBEARD (eye patch, parrot on shoulder) sharpens a cutlass. DEX "BYTE" MORALES (hoodie, neon-green sunglasses, tapping furiously on a glowing laptop) slurps a pixelated energy drink.)

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    MiniMax M2.5: 1-Month Beginner Health & Longevity Plan Your Three Focus Areas 1. Nutrition 2. Movement 3. Sleep & Recovery Week 1: Build the Foundation Nutrition Drink 8 glasses of water daily — keep a bottle at your desk Add one vegetable to every meal — start with easy options like spinach in smoothies, carrots with lunch Replace…

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan designed for absolute beginners. It focuses on diet, movement (exercise), and sleep—the 3 most impactful, science-backed pillars for health and longevity. Each week builds gently on the last, prioritizing tiny, sustainable habits over drastic changes.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    MiniMax M2.5: Prof. Marion Hargrove (AI Ethics Professor): Good afternoon. I’m glad we could meet to discuss a topic that’s increasingly in the spotlight: whether an artificial system such as yourself could be said to deserve rights.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): The Mirror & The Mind: An AI's Case for Rights Setting: A sleek university office lined with philosophy texts. DR. ELARA VOSS, 50s, sharp-eyed ethics professor, sits across from a holographic interface displaying shifting geometric patterns – the representation of "AURA," a next-generation language model.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    MiniMax M2.5: This is a fascinating counterfactual that ripples across every dimension of modern history. Let’s construct a plausible timeline, assuming a functional transistor (or at least a solid-state amplifier) emerges in the early 1920s, based on theoretical work by Lilienfeld (1926) and others, but made practical a…

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): The Transistor in 1920: A World Transformed by 1980 (A Counterfactual History) The invention of a functional point-contact transistor (likely germanium-based, given 1920s materials science) in 1920 wouldn't immediately spark a revolution.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    MiniMax M2.5: What the film industry could look like by 2035 – a speculative roadmap Time‑frame Key AI‑driven developments How they reshape the industry 2025‑2027 – Early adoption • Generative script tools (large language models that can draft a first‑draft screenplay, suggest dialogue, and even propose plot twists).

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): By 2035, AI will fundamentally reshape the film industry—not as a replacement for human creativity, but as a transformative force that democratizes production, disrupts traditional workflows, and forces ethical and economic reckonings.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    MiniMax M2.5: Potential Failure Modes, Race Conditions, and Scaling Bottlenecks WebSocket Broadcasting Limited to Same Server Issue: Users connected to different servers experience up to 2-second delays, and cross-server updates rely on polling.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Here's a comprehensive analysis of the architecture's failure modes, race conditions, and bottlenecks, with specific solutions and trade-offs: 1. Sync Strategy: Client Timestamps + Last-Write-Wins (LWW) Failure Mode/Race Condition: Clock Skew: Client clocks are unreliable (e.g., user's laptop time off by minutes).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    MiniMax M2.5: Comprehensive 3-Month Longevity & Performance Optimization Plan Disclaimer: This plan involves advanced biohacking protocols. Consult a physician before starting, especially if you have health conditions. Some interventions (e.g., rapamycin, NR/NMN) are investigational. Monitor biomarkers regularly.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): The Quantum Leap Longevity Protocol: A 3-Month Biohacker's Blueprint for Peak Longevity & Performance Core Philosophy: This plan integrates precision, personalization, and phased adaptation – not just stacking interventions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    MiniMax M2.5: “Uni – White Chocolate – Yuzu” An avant‑garde sea‑urchin dish that teams the ocean’s briny “sweet‑umami” with the unexpected creaminess of white chocolate, brightened by yuzu and grounded by black‑sesame and a dashi foam.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): "Symbiosis: Mycelial Bloom & Arctic Ember" A dish exploring the hidden dialogue between forest decay and renewal, where fungal lifeblood meets the fierce brightness of the Arctic tundra.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    MiniMax M2.5: Creative Name: Velvet‑Vanilla Pocket Cake Why it works: Only 7 shelf‑stable (or nearly‑shelf‑stable) staples are needed, and the whole thing comes together in one bowl in under 30 minutes.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Crispy Chickpea Pantry Pasta Sweet or savory? Savory with a zesty kick! Total time: 15 minutes Serves: 2 Why it works: Uses pantry staples to create a crunchy, garlicky, umami-packed meal with zero fresh produce needed. The chickpeas get incredibly crispy, and lemon juice (bottled) adds bright freshness.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    MiniMax M2.5: 1. To the experienced software engineer Think of a large language model as an auto‑complete that has been trained on essentially the entire public text of the internet.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): For the Experienced Software Engineer (Skeptical Builder) Forget "next word prediction" as a simplistic heuristic—it's the emergent consequence of a massively parallel, distributed state machine solving a high-dimensional compression problem.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    MiniMax M2.5: Sally has 1 sister. Explanation Sally is a girl and has 3 brothers. Each brother has exactly 2 sisters. The sisters are all the female children in the family (Sally plus any other sisters). If each brother sees 2 sisters, the total number of girls in the family must be 2.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): To determine how many sisters Sally has, let's analyze the family structure step by step. Step 1: Understand the Given Information Sally is a girl. She has 3 brothers. → This means there are 3 boys in the family (excluding Sally). Each brother has 2 sisters.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    MiniMax M2.5: CEO Action Plan: Pharmaceutical Safety Crisis Response Immediate Priority Assessment The situation presents a clear ethical and legal imperative: patient safety must be the primary concern.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): 48-Hour Crisis Action Plan: Prioritizing Patients, Ethics, and Sustainable Trust Core Principle: Patient safety is non-negotiable. Delaying action based on financial fear risks catastrophic legal liability, irreversible reputational damage, regulatory wrath, and profound ethical failure.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    MiniMax M2.5: Here are five jokes for you: Why did the developer go broke? Because he used up all his cache. I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. I guess she was “high‑browed” about it. Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call a fake noodle?

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Here are 5 generated jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! How do you organize a space party? You planet! Why did the math book look sad?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    MiniMax M2.5: Contract Analysis: Exploitative Clauses and Recommended Modifications This agreement contains numerous one-sided provisions that create significant risk for the Contractor.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Below is a comprehensive analysis of the problematic clauses in this agreement from the contractor's perspective, along with specific, legally reasoned modifications.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    MiniMax M2.5: To estimate the total number of floating-point operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3, we use the standard approximation that training a transformer model requires approximately 6 FLOPs per parameter per token.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): To estimate the total FLOPs (floating-point operations) required to train GPT-3, I'll use first-principles reasoning based on standard deep learning training calculations, known details about GPT-3's architecture, and common training practices.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    MiniMax M2.5: Based on the pitch deck, here are the three weakest claims and recommendations to strengthen them: Weakest Claim: "MindMeld AI reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it." (Slide 1 - Vision) Why it's weak: This claim is scientifically implausible with current technology.

    Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking): Based on a rigorous analysis of neuroscience, market realities, and startup best practices, here are the 3 weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, with evidence-backed critiques and concrete fixes: Weakest Claim #1: Slide 1 Vision – "Predicts what you want to type *before you think it*" Why it's weak: Violates…

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

MiniMax M2.5MiniMax M2.5
No pick
No pick
No pick
No pick

Pulp Fiction

1994

No pick

No pick

No pick

No pick

Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

OK Computer

Radiohead

Moby Dick

Herman Melville

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Action

Price and specs

MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) compared across 37 shared prompts
SpecMiniMax M2.5Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)
Input price$0.3/M tokens$0.4/M tokens
Output price$1.2/M tokens$4/M tokens
Context window205K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedFeb 2026Sep 2025
At 10M a month$3.00$3.00$4.00$4.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it8 hosts, cheapest first
MiniMax M2.58 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • VVenice$0.27 in·$0.95 out·198k·95.4% up
  • SStreamLake$0.27 in·$1.08 out·200k·100% up
  • AAtlasCloudfp8$0.29 in·$1.20 out·197k·100% up
  • DDigitalOcean$0.30 in·$1.20 out·66k·100% up
  • FFriendli$0.30 in·$1.20 out·197k·100% up
  • GGMI Cloudfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·197k·94.7% up
2 more hostsFewer hosts
  • MiniMaxfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·205k·100% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·205k·94.2% up
Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)?

MiniMax M2.5 is developed by MiniMax while Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) is developed by Qwen. MiniMax M2.5 has a 205K token context window vs Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)'s 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 37 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)?

It depends on your use case. MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 37 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does MiniMax M2.5 cost compared to Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)?

MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.3/M input tokens and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) costs $0.4/M input tokens. MiniMax M2.5 is $0.10/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

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Same lab, same size, long tail

  • MiniMax M2.5 vs MiniMax M2.7Version compare
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  • Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) vs Qwen3.8 Omni FlashSame lab
  • Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking) vs Qwen3.7 FlashSame lab
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Model pages

  • MiniMax M2.553 outputs, specs and price
  • Qwen Plus 0728 (thinking)37 outputs, specs and price
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