MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max 0902 compared

Qwen3.8 Max 0902 leads the intelligence index 33.7 to 29.1. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash costs 91% less on blended price. See token costs, speed and which to pick.

Metric	MiniMax-M3.1-Flash	Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Intelligence Index	29.1	33.7
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.15	$2.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$0.60	$6.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	147	38
Time to first token	1.0s	3.2s
Release date	2026-10-19	2026-09-02

Metric

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash

Qwen3.8 Max (0902)

Intelligence Index

29.1

33.7

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.15

$2.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$0.60

$6.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

147

Time to first token

1.0s

3.2s

Release date

2026-10-19

2026-09-02

Here is how MiniMax-M3.1-Flash, built by MiniMax, lines up against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) from Alibaba. Everything below is read from the benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's catalogue; nothing here comes from a hands-on test. The clearest gap is on the bill: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is 11 times the blended price of MiniMax-M3.1-Flash.

Token pricing and a sample bill

The list prices are $0.15 in and $0.60 out for MiniMax-M3.1-Flash, and $2.00 in and $6.00 out for Qwen3.8 Max 0902, per million tokens. That makes MiniMax-M3.1-Flash's output 90% cheaper.

For a sample workload of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash would cost $0.27 and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $3.20, a difference of $2.93. Scale it up to an agent that reads 50 million tokens and writes 5 million in a month and the bill is $10.50 for MiniMax-M3.1-Flash against $130 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $0.262 versus $3.00 per million.

How fast they respond

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash generates about 147 tokens per second and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 about 38 tokens per second. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is ahead by 284% on throughput. Before any text appears, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash takes 1.0 seconds and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 3.2 seconds. In an interactive app, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash will feel noticeably more responsive.

Put together, a 400-token answer would take about 3.7 seconds from MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and 14 seconds from Qwen3.8 Max 0902, counting the first-token wait.

When they came out

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash arrived on October 19, 2026, about 2 months after Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (September 2, 2026).

Overall capability: 4.6 points apart

On the intelligence index, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash scores 29.1 against 33.7 for Qwen3.8 Max 0902. It is a meaningful gap rather than a rounding difference. Put another way, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash would need 16% more on this index to draw level.

Among 109 active scored models, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash sits 59th and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 44th.

The catalogue does not yet split either model's score into coding and math indexes.

Cost per point of intelligence

Per point of intelligence index, MiniMax-M3.1-Flash costs $0.0090 of blended price per million tokens and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 $0.089. So Qwen3.8 Max 0902 buys its higher score at a premium, while MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is the value pick, paying 90% less per point.

Quick answers

Is Qwen3.8 Max 0902 better than MiniMax-M3.1-Flash?

It depends on what you need: Qwen3.8 Max 0902 scores higher on the intelligence index, 33.7 to 29.1; MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 91% cheaper on blended price; and MiniMax-M3.1-Flash streams output 3.8 times as fast.

Is Qwen3.8 Max 0902 cheaper than MiniMax-M3.1-Flash?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is cheaper on a blended basis. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash lists $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max 0902 lists $2.00 and $6.00. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $0.27 against $3.20.

When were MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and Qwen3.8 Max 0902 released?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is newer. It was released on October 19, 2026, about 2 months after Qwen3.8 Max 0902 (September 2, 2026).

Which model has lower latency?

MiniMax-M3.1-Flash generates output faster, at 147 tokens per second against 38 tokens per second. MiniMax-M3.1-Flash reaches its first token sooner (1.0 seconds against 3.2 seconds).

Where do these numbers come from?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Final whistle

Short answer: MiniMax-M3.1-Flash has more going for it here, but Qwen3.8 Max 0902 is not without an argument. Pick Qwen3.8 Max 0902 if you need the higher overall score (33.7 against 29.1). Pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash if cost matters ($0.60 against $6.00 per million output tokens) and long outputs need to finish quickly.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the MiniMax-M3.1-Flash and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.