GPT-5.1 vs Qwen 3 Max for coding
GPT-5.1 is the stronger coder of the two on benchmarks, but Qwen 3 Max can be the better pick when cost, speed, or context window matter more. Below: a side-by-side spec table and exactly when to pick each.
At a glance
| Spec | GPT-5.1 | Qwen 3 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba |
| Released | Nov 2025 | Oct 2025 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 76% | 68% |
| HumanEval | 95% | 92% |
| MMLU | 89% | 88% |
| Context window | 400K | 1M+ |
| Max output | 128K | 32K |
| Input price (per 1M) | $1.25 | $1.50 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $10 | $6 |
| Price tier | Mid | Mid |
| Speed | Medium | Medium |
| Hosting | Closed/API | Closed/API + Self-host |
| Modality | Multimodal (vision) | Multimodal (vision) |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2025 | Sep 2025 |
Pick GPT-5.1 if…
- It scores higher on SWE-bench Verified (76% vs 68%), the best proxy for real-world coding.
- It's tuned for default daily-driver coding agent with adaptive reasoning and warmer chat tone.
Pick Qwen 3 Max if…
- It has a larger context window (1M+ vs 400K).
- It's tuned for long-context coding, multilingual codebases, China-region deployments.
GPT-5.1 vs Qwen 3 Max: which is better for coding?
GPT-5.1 is the stronger coder of the two on benchmarks, but Qwen 3 Max can be the better pick when cost, speed, or context window matter more. See the full spec table for SWE-bench, HumanEval, MMLU, context window, and pricing on both. Benchmarks are a directional signal, not a guarantee for your codebase — the most reliable test is running both on a real task you care about.
Compare these head-to-head with live data, or build a full stack around your pick — Flowpicker shows compatibility and monthly cost.
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See the full model leaderboard ranked by SWE-bench, HumanEval, and MMLU.