workhorse
Qwen Max vs Qwen Plus
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | Qwen Max | Qwen Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | dashscope | dashscope |
| Model ID | dashscope/qwen-max | dashscope/qwen-plus |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.60 | $0.40 (75% cheaper) |
| Output / 1M tokens | $6.40 | $1.20 (81% cheaper) |
| Cached input / 1M | — | — |
| Context window | 31kk tokens | 129kk tokens |
| Max output | 8kk tokens | 16kk tokens |
| Vision | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| Web search | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| JSON schema | ⬜ | ⬜ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | Qwen Max | Qwen Plus | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $2.88 | $0.64 | Qwen Plus saves 78% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $28.80 | $6.40 | Qwen Plus saves 78% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $288 | $64.00 | Qwen Plus saves 78% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Qwen Plus
$0.40/M
· 75% less than the other
Cheapest output
Qwen Plus
$1.20/M
· 81% less than the other
Larger context
Qwen Plus
129kk tokens · 320% larger window
More features
Qwen Max
1 / 5 capabilities
(tied)
Better for…
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$1.20/M output — 81% cheaper on output at scale
Qwen Plus
Long-document processing & large codebases
129k context window vs 31k — 320% larger context
Qwen Plus
Cost-sensitive production at scale
$64.00/month at 100M-token scale — 78% cheaper than the alternative
Qwen Plus
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.