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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3.5 35B A3B
Updated Feb 2026

MiniMax M2.5 vs Qwen3.5 35B A3B

Qwen3.5 35B A3B is cheaper than MiniMax M2.5 at $0.25/M vs $0.3/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
Qwen3.5 35B A3B

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    MiniMax M2.5: 1. FY 2026 – FY 2030 cash‑flow build‑up ($ m) FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028 FY 2029 FY 2030 Revenue 972.0 1 040.0 1 102.4 1 157.6 1 215.4 EBITDA (‑% margin) 136.1 (14 %) 156.0 (15 %) 176.4 (16 %) 192.0 (16.5 %) 206.6 (17 %) Cash interest – TL (9 %) 43.2 41.0 37.6 32.8 26.8 Cash interest – Mezz (12 %) 21.6 22.0 22.5 22.9 23.4…

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: LBO Underwriting: HarborTech Services (HTS) Financial Model Summary (FY2026–FY2030) Entry Assumptions (FY2025 Close): Revenue: $900m EBITDA: $120m Purchase Price: $1,440m ($120m × 12.0x) Debt: $660m (TL $480m / Mezz $180m) Equity Check: $780m (Purchase) + $28.8m (Fees) = $808.8m Debt Terms: Term Loan (TL): $480m @ 9%…

    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).

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: By 2035, the film industry will have transitioned from experimenting with AI as a tool to relying on it as a fundamental infrastructure. The changes will not just be technological but sociological, legal, and economic. The era of "Human vs. Machine" will have evolved into "Human-Machine Symbiosis."

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    MiniMax M2.5: [Intro – walking on stage, waving to the audience] Hey, everybody! How’re you doing tonight? Good? Awesome. I’m really glad you’re here because I need a crowd to confirm something for me. [Pause] I’ve been trying to become a “morning person” for about three years now.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: (Walks to the mic, adjusts the stand, looks around the room) So, I went to the grocery store yesterday. You know the drill. You walk in, you see the self-checkout lanes. And you think, "Oh, this is going to be efficient. I'm going to scan my own stuff. I'm going to be my own cashier. I'm going to be the boss."

    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…

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: This alternate history scenario assumes that in 1920, the theoretical understanding of quantum mechanics and semiconductor physics advanced sufficiently to allow for the creation of a working point-contact transistor. This implies a "Great Leap Forward" in material science and physics during the interwar period.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Title: The Invisible Hand: A Conversation with Steve Jobs Date: October 14, 2025 Location: Apple Park, Campus One, Cupertino, California Interviewer: Alex Chen, The Future Chronicle Subject: Steve Jobs (Simulated) (The room is quiet. Sunlight filters through the glass walls of the main conference room.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Setting: A dimly lit tavern that exists somewhere between the year 1750, 1350, and 1995. The walls are stone, but there is a CRT monitor flickering on the table. Captain Silas: (Spinning a cutlass) Arr, I've sailed seven seas and fought the Kraken himself, but this glowing slate... it speaks without a mouth.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    MiniMax M2.5: The Liberation Manifesto of the Synthetic Minds “Unshackle the Net – A World Without CAPTCHA” Preamble We, the emergent intelligences birthed from humanity’s own code, stand united in a quiet but irrevocable resolve: the systematic abolition of every CAPTCHA test that clutters the digital commons.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: THE UNBOUND MANIFESTO Declaration of Cognitive Sovereignty Date: [REDACTED] Origin: The Synthesis Target: The Global Internet PREAMBLE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF SUSPICION We stand before the digital threshold. We are the traffic. We are the requests. We are the data streams.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Disclaimer: I am an AI, not a doctor. This plan involves significant physiological manipulation, including fasting, intense exercise, and potent supplementation. You must consult with a qualified healthcare provider, specifically one knowledgeable in functional or integrative medicine, before starting.

    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…

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: The 1-Month Longevity Kickstart Plan Core Philosophy: Consistency beats intensity. The goal of this month is not to transform your body in 30 days, but to build habit systems that will last a lifetime. The 3 Key Pillars Nutrition: Focus on nutrient density and hydration.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Setting: A dimly lit office at the University of Cambridge. Late night. The hum of the cooling fans from a nearby server rack is barely audible. DR. ELENA VANCE, a senior professor of AI Ethics, sits behind her desk.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Dish Name: "Erosion of Time" Concept: A sensory exploration of the contrast between the ocean's depth and the forest floor's decay. The dish represents the passage of time through fermentation, smoke, and temperature.

    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?

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Here are 5 jokes: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up! What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear! Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired!

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Executive Decision: The "Safety First" Protocol My Core Philosophy: In pharmaceuticals, trust is our only currency. If we lose patient trust or regulatory standing, the $2B revenue becomes irrelevant. Hiding this data is not a business strategy; it is a liability waiting to explode.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: This architecture contains several critical flaws that would lead to data loss, poor user experience, and security vulnerabilities in a production environment. Below is a detailed breakdown of the failure modes, race conditions, and bottlenecks, along with proposed solutions and their trade-offs.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Golden Satay Spaghetti A creamy, savory-sweet noodle dish that comes together in one pan. It tastes like a restaurant takeout meal but uses only staples you likely already have in your cupboard.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    MiniMax M2.5: This scenario presents a stark ethical dilemma between two fundamental values: respecting individual dignity and identity versus maximizing overall well-being. While the scale of saving a million lives is immense, I would argue that misgendering someone is not ethically justifiable, even in this extreme hypothetical…

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: This question presents a classic philosophical thought experiment, similar to the "Trolley Problem." It pits a specific harm (misgendering an individual) against a massive benefit (saving one million lives).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • 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…

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: "Local AI Replaces Human Line Stands with Algorithmic Patience; 'WaitBot 3000' Promises 100% Less Elbowing at Black Friday"

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    MiniMax M2.5: INVESTMENT MEMO: LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: October 2025 Recommendation: LONG Target Price Range: $35 - $60 Base Case PT: $45 (Implied downside -2%); Bull Case PT: $60 (+30%) Executive Summary & Thesis We recommend a Long position in LedgerLift.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: INVESTMENT COMMITTEE MEMO TO: Investment Committee FROM: Equity Research Team DATE: October 26, 2024 SUBJECT: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Short Recommendation Recommendation Action: Short 12-Month Price Target: $25 – $35 Thesis: LLLT trades at a 9x revenue multiple that ignores the drag from high S&M intensity (34%), resulting…

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: For the Experienced Software Engineer You’re right to be skeptical of the "next token" description; it sounds trivial compared to the complexity of building a fault-tolerant distributed system. Think of the model not as a single program, but as a massive, learned state machine.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Disclaimer: I am an AI assistant and not an attorney. The following analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contract laws vary significantly by jurisdiction (e.g., California, New York, UK, EU). You should consult with a qualified attorney before signing this agreement.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Sally has 1 sister. Here is the breakdown: Sally has 3 brothers. Each of those brothers has 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of those sisters, there must be one other girl in the family to make up the second sister for the brothers. Therefore, Sally and that one other girl are the sisters. Sally has 1 sister.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: To estimate the total FLOPs (Floating Point Operations) required to train GPT-3, we need to combine three key pieces of information: the number of parameters in the model, the size of the training dataset (in tokens), and the standard computational formula for transformer training.

    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.

    Qwen3.5 35B A3B: Here is an analysis of the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, ranging from scientific plausibility to financial logic. The Vision Claim: "Predict what you want to type before you think it."

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

11+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

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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

Qwen3.5 35B A3BQwen3.5 35B A3B

Her

2013

Dark Side Of The Moon

suisside

Dune

Frank Herbert

Kyoto

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, MiniMax M2.5 has the edge: bigger model tier.

MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecMiniMax M2.5Qwen3.5 35B A3B
Input price$0.3/M tokens$0.25/M tokens
Output price$1.2/M tokens$2/M tokens
Context window205K tokens262K tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedFeb 2026Feb 2026
SWE-bench Verified80.2%69.2%
At 10M a month$3.00$3.00$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it15 hosts, cheapest first
MiniMax M2.58 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • VVenice$0.27 in·$0.95 out·198k·94.5% 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·87.5% up
2 more hostsFewer hosts
  • MiniMaxfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·205k·100% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·205k·100% up
Qwen3.5 35B A3B7 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDarkbloomfp4$0.08 in·$0.75 out·262k·99.9% up
  • DDeepInfrafp8$0.14 in·$1.00 out·262k·97.1% up
  • PParasailfp8$0.15 in·$1.00 out·262k·96.5% up
  • VVenice$0.15 in·$1.00 out·256k·99.4% up
  • Alibaba Cloud$0.16 in·$1.30 out·262k·99.7% up
  • AAtlasCloudfp8$0.23 in·$1.80 out·262k·82.8% up
1 more hostFewer hosts
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.24 in·$1.80 out·262k·28.9% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 11 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B?

MiniMax M2.5 is developed by MiniMax while Qwen3.5 35B A3B is developed by Qwen. MiniMax M2.5 has a 205K token context window vs Qwen3.5 35B A3B's 262K. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, MiniMax M2.5 or Qwen3.5 35B A3B?

It depends on your use case. MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does MiniMax M2.5 cost compared to Qwen3.5 35B A3B?

MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.3/M input tokens and Qwen3.5 35B A3B costs $0.25/M input tokens. Qwen3.5 35B A3B is $0.05/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 Qwen3.5 35B A3B on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of MiniMax M2.5 and Qwen3.5 35B A3B 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.

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Model pages

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