Qwen3 Max vs Grok 4.3
Qwen3 Max (Qwen, released September 2025) and Grok 4.3 (xAI, released April 2026) sit at different points on the price/capability curve. Qwen3 Max is text-only with a 262,144-token context window and a lower per-token price. Grok 4.3 accepts text, image, and file input, runs a 1,000,000-token context window, and posts higher scores on every Design Arena model-category benchmark in this dataset. The gap shows up clearest in coding and UI work.
Spec vs spec
| Spec | Qwen3 Max | Grok 4.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K | 1M |
| Max output | 33K | — |
| Input modalities | text | text, image, file |
| Output modalities | text | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 30, 2025 | — |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Apr 30, 2026 |
| Reasoning | optional | optional |
Pricing
Per 1M tokens. Provider price plus the flat 3% fee — the sum is what you pay.
qwen/qwen3-max
Input · 1M tokens
$0.780 + 3%$0.803
Output · 1M tokens
$3.90 + 3%$4.02
Cache read · 1M tokens
$0.156 + 3%$0.161
Cache write · 1M tokens
$0.975 + 3%$1.00
FEE — FLAT, EVERY MODEL3%
x-ai/grok-4.3
Input · 1M tokens
$1.25 + 3%$1.29
Output · 1M tokens
$2.50 + 3%$2.58
Cache read · 1M tokens
$0.200 + 3%$0.206
FEE — FLAT, EVERY MODEL3%
One workload, priced on both
10M input + 2M output tokens at each model's price, flat 3% fee included.
qwen/qwen3-maxCheaper
$16.07
$15.60 provider + 3%
x-ai/grok-4.3
$18.03
$17.50 provider + 3%
Benchmarks
Design Arena categories where both models have results. Higher Elo and lower rank win.
| Qwen3 Max | Grok 4.3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Elo | Rank | Elo | Rank |
| 3D | 1150 | #62 | 1202 | #43 |
| ASCII art | 1175 | #32 | 1189 | #27 |
| Code | 1159 | #66 | 1243 | #31 |
| Data viz | 1149 | #64 | 1234 | #35 |
| Game dev | 1160 | #62 | 1242 | #34 |
| SVG | 1069 | #60 | 1140 | #44 |
| UI components | 1132 | #67 | 1250 | #31 |
| Websites | 1161 | #66 | 1244 | #31 |
Head-to-head preference voting. How we filter and rank
Pricing math
Qwen3 Max: $0.78/M input, $3.90/M output from the provider; on OpenKey that's $0.78 × 1.03 = $0.8034/M input and $3.90 × 1.03 = $4.017/M output. Grok 4.3: $1.25/M input, $2.50/M output; on OpenKey that's $1.25 × 1.03 = $1.2875/M input and $2.50 × 1.03 = $2.575/M output. Both run on OpenKey with one key and the same flat 3% fee on top of provider list price.
For a 10M-input / 2M-output workload, Qwen3 Max costs $15.60 total versus $17.50 for Grok 4.3 — Qwen3 Max is about 11% cheaper on this mix because its input price ($0.78/M) is 62% of Grok's ($1.25/M), even though its output price ($3.90/M) is higher than Grok's ($2.50/M). If your workload skews output-heavy, that gap narrows or flips.
Coding and UI benchmarks
On Design Arena's model-category benchmarks, Grok 4.3 outscores Qwen3 Max in every category present for both: codecategories (1243 vs 1159 elo, rank 31 vs 66), uicomponent (1250 vs 1132, rank 31 vs 67), website (1244 vs 1161, rank 31 vs 66), dataviz (1234 vs 1149, rank 35 vs 64), gamedev (1242 vs 1160, rank 34 vs 62), svg (1140 vs 1069, rank 44 vs 60), 3d (1202 vs 1150, rank 43 vs 62), and asciiart (1189 vs 1175, rank 27 vs 32). Grok 4.3 also has Design Arena agent-arena scores (webapps 1194 elo rank 14, mobileapps 1146 elo rank 26) that Qwen3 Max has no equivalent for in this dataset, plus artificial_analysis scores: coding index 42.2, intelligence index 37.6, agentic index 24.1. If code generation or UI output quality is the deciding factor, Grok 4.3 is the clear pick here.
Context and modality
Grok 4.3's context window is 1,000,000 tokens against Qwen3 Max's 262,144 — a context ratio of 0.26, meaning Qwen3 Max holds roughly a quarter of Grok's window. Grok 4.3 also takes text, image, and file input while Qwen3 Max is text-in/text-out only. For long-document work, multi-file codebases, or any task needing visual input, Grok 4.3 is the only option of the two. Qwen3 Max caps completions at 32,768 tokens; Grok 4.3 has no stated max completion token limit in this data.
When to pick each
Pick Qwen3 Max when you're doing large-scale, text-only, input-heavy workloads and want the lower per-token input cost. Pick Grok 4.3 when the task involves code, UI/website generation, agentic workflows, image or file input, or documents that need more than 262K tokens of context — the benchmark gap and the modality gap both point the same direction. Grok 4.3 also supports adjustable reasoning effort (high/medium/low/none, default low) while Qwen3 Max has no reasoning-effort controls in its supported parameters.
Which model for which job
| Use case | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Large text-only batch jobs | Qwen3 Max | $0.78/M input price is 62% of Grok 4.3's $1.25/M, and the workload is input-heavy |
| UI component or website generation | Grok 4.3 | 1250 elo on uicomponent and 1244 on website vs Qwen3 Max's 1132 and 1161 |
| Multi-file or image-based input | Grok 4.3 | only Grok 4.3 accepts image and file input; Qwen3 Max is text-only |
| Long-document analysis beyond 262K tokens | Grok 4.3 | 1,000,000-token context window vs Qwen3 Max's 262,144 |
| Agentic app-building tasks | Grok 4.3 | artificial_analysis agentic index of 24.1 and Design Arena webapps elo of 1194, rank 14 — no equivalent Qwen3 Max scores exist |
| Output-heavy generation at scale | Grok 4.3 | $2.50/M output price is lower than Qwen3 Max's $3.90/M |
Questions
- Which model is cheaper for a typical workload?
- For 10M input tokens and 2M output tokens, Qwen3 Max costs $15.60 total versus $17.50 for Grok 4.3, about 11% less. The gap comes from Qwen3 Max's lower input price ($0.78/M vs $1.25/M), which outweighs its higher output price ($3.90/M vs $2.50/M) at this input/output ratio.
- Which model scores better on coding benchmarks?
- Grok 4.3 wins every Design Arena model-category benchmark listed, including codecategories (1243 vs 1159 elo) and uicomponent (1250 vs 1132 elo). Grok 4.3 also has an artificial_analysis coding index of 42.2, a metric not available for Qwen3 Max in this dataset.
- Which has the larger context window?
- Grok 4.3 supports 1,000,000 tokens of context versus Qwen3 Max's 262,144 — a context ratio of 0.26. If your task needs to hold large codebases or long documents in context, Grok 4.3 is the only choice of the two.
- Does either model handle images?
- Grok 4.3 accepts text, image, and file input (text output only). Qwen3 Max is text-to-text only with no image or file support. Both are available on OpenKey through one API key, with pricing set at the provider's list price plus a flat 3% fee.